‘Squid Game’ season 2 just broke a huge Netflix record

We knew Squid Game would be huge when it returned for Season 2, as Season 1 was the most-watched Netflix series of all time by a significant margin. But now it has set a brand new record.

We don’t know viewership numbers yet, it’s too early for that, although of course it will be huge. Rather the record in question is that Squid Game Season 2 is the first series to debut at #1 in all 93 countries where Netflix is ​​available. It’s everywhere from the US, of course, to Cyprus to Honduras to Kenya to Oman to Thailand. The whole globe.

This simply does not happen. Even big shows that do well on global charts never debut simultaneously no. 1 on the service, as some regions always prefer one series over another, no matter how popular it is. But here this is a clean slate for Squid Game, which is not something the original achieved as it took some time to go fully viral. But not Stranger Things, not Wednesday, not anything else.

Now we are waiting for viewership. I didn’t imagine that Squid Game Season 2 would be able to break the 2.2 billion hours watched in Season 1, but I guess I can’t rule it out with a debut like this. You might think that subsequent seasons of shows can’t get higher ratings by definition if you need to catch up on a series, but that’s just not the case. Shows like Money Heist and Stranger Things have much higher ratings than when they started.

If there’s one thing working against Squid Game Season 2 in this case, it’s that this season is only 7 episodes long, down from 9 in Season 1, meaning that completing the season would be two fewer hours per . viewer. Although overall it could get more viewers.

Additionally, Squid Game Season 2 is not being received as well as Season 1. It’s down to a 63% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes as opposed to 83% for Season 1. I suspect a lot of this is because this feels more like half a season with (spoilers) the show stopping in the middle of the matches and the rest to be finished in Season 3 next year. It ends somewhat abruptly, and plotlines that were built up end up going nowhere, maybe a little also much of a set up for season 3. So I certainly understand the criticism.

I suspect that Squid Game Season 2 will do much better numbers than Season 1 at least in its debut week, but in the long run? Can it capture the original? It remains to be seen, but this record-breaking debut couldn’t be off to a better start.

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