What made SQUID GAME So Popular? reposted

Instructions

"Squid Game" is more than just a runaway hit for Netflix — it's also the internet's favorite show. Released Sept. 17, the nine-episode Korean thriller is poised to become Netflix's biggest "non-English-language show in the world," said Netflix's co-CEO Ted Sarandos. "It's only been out for nine days, and it's a very good chance it's going to be our biggest show ever," Sarandos said last month. Flix Patrol, a website that tracks streaming statistics for the top platforms in the world, reported that "Squid Game" is the No. 1 show in dozens of countries, including the U.S., the United Kingdom and South Korea. Streaming numbers for Netflix aren't independently verified, making a show's popularity difficult to quantify. Netflix executives didn't respond to requests for comment. Julia Alexander, a senior strategy analyst at Parrot Analytics, said it's clear that "Squid Game" has been a massive success, adding that she would use one word to describe how big a win it has been for Netflix. "'Unprecedented,'" Alexander said. "I'm assuming that the executives knew because of the talent they used, because of the region they released it in, that this was going to be a hit in South Korea. I would put good money that the executives had no idea this was going to be a global hit." The show follows Seong Gi-Hun, played by Lee Jung-jae, as he and hundreds of other desperate and deeply indebted contestants compete in a violent and often grotesque competition for about $38 million. Only one person can win the prize, and those who lose the series of children's games pay with their lives. On social media, users can't stop talking about "Squid Game," especially some of its children's games, which have lent themselves to some unforgettable memes. On TikTok, "#SquidGame" has been viewed more than 22.8 billion times. So why is the show so popular? We broke down some of the top reasons viewers can't get enough of it. Word of mouth "Squid Game" is a wholly unique property not based on any existing idea or concept, which could have hamstrung its popularity as both a new and a foreign property with no fan base. As Vulture notes, although the series was marketed in South Korea and other Asian countries, there was no serious push to advertise it in the U.S. Instead, its unique concept electrified social media, where Twitter and TikTok users have voraciously posted about it. "People hear about it, people talk about it, people love it, and there's a very social aspect to that, which does help grow the show outside of what we do," Netflix's global TV head, Bela Bajaria, told Vulture. Another reason "Squid Game" has become such a worldwide phenomenon is its accessibility. The show is filmed in Korean, but Netflix offers subtitles in 37 languages and dubs in 34 languages, allowing those who would rather not read subtitles to enjoy it, too. Even the way the show is subtitled and dubbed has opened conversations online, where some say the translations miss crucial context. "Not to sound snobby but i'm fluent in korean and i watched squid game with english subtitles and if you don't understand korean you didn't really watch the same show. translation was so bad. the dialogue was written so well and zero of it was preserved," Twitter user Youngmi Mayer tweeted in a thread that has gone viral. Meme fodder As the show became the most talked-about piece of entertainment online, the memes quickly followed. That has led hundreds of people on social media try their own honeycomb toffee challenges. TikTok has even made a honeycomb toffee filter so users can see whether they'd survive the "Squid Game" challenge. Others have made a meme out of the giant robotic girl from an episode in which the contestants play a deadly game of "red light, green light." Audio of the girl singing "mugunghwa kochi pieotsumnid," which roughly translates to "Red light, green light 1, 2, 3!" has been used for more than 420,000 videos on the platform, many showing how people would win or lose at the game. Some videos have people dancing when they ought to be running. Others present real-life versions of the game, showing teens avoiding their mothers while they're on their phones when they're supposed to be asleep in bed. Non-English-language shows are on the rise Netflix had smash hit non-English-language shows before "Squid Game." Since 2019, streaming of non-English content by U.S. audiences is up by 71 percent, Bajaria said. Shows like "Lupin," which was originally in French, and "Money Heist," which was originally in Spanish, have been top streamers for Netflix. Both offer English dubs. Thats not even half of it....