Video streaming giant Netflix has revealed
that the popular South Korean blockbuster series, Squid Game, drew 231 million
views across all seasons between January and June 2025. This was contained in
the company’s latest engagement report, which captures all viewings across the
platform during the first quarter of the year.
Specifically, the report reveals that Squid Game
Season 1, released four years ago, garnered 42 million views, while Season 2
accumulated 117.3 million views to become the second most-watched series on the
platform during H1 2025. Squid Game’s final season, which was released on June
26, 2025, was the third most-watched series of the half, reaching 72M views in
just four days.
For Netflix, Squid Game continues to project a
milestone after the series generated large viewership in the second season of
its survival thriller, which was released in December during the
holidays. The dystopian Korean horror tale about a fictional, deadly
game remains the most-watched Netflix TV series ever.
“Squid Game”, an ultra-violent tale exploring themes
of division and inequality, is considered to be one of the most significant
works in solidifying South Korea’s status as a global cultural powerhouse,
alongside the Oscar-winning film “Parasite” and K-pop megastars BTS.
While season 2 and 3 of the film were the second and
third most-watched programs on the platform in H1 2025, popular UK series Adolescence was
the most-watched series with 145 million views. Other series such as UK’s Missing
You (58M), and Black Mirror Season 7 (31M), South
Korea’s When Life Gives You Tangerines (35M),
and The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call Season
1 (34M) and Denmark’s Secrets We Keep (34M) also features on
top most viewed series during the period.
In the movie category, Tyler Perry’s STRAW was
the second-most watched with 103 million views. The film, released on June 6
2025, mirrors an emotional narrative that captures the devastating weight of
prevailing struggles faced by single mothers, black women, and the poor. Taraji
P. Henson stars as Janiyah Wilkinson, a single mother whose life unravels in a
single day through job loss, eviction, and the threat of losing her ill
daughter, Aria, to Child Protective Services.
Other Netflix films such as Back in Action (165M) –
no. 1 most most-watched, The Life List (96M) starring Sofia Carson, and Nonnas
(58M) were widely watched on the platform during H1 2025. According to
Netflix, programs spanning a wide range of genres and languages saw
over 95 billion hours of watch time.
Squid Game is driving earnings for Netflix
As expected, Squid Game views count and popularity had
a direct reflection on Netflix’s earnings.
According to the video streaming giant, the final
season of Squid Game helped it beat Wall Street earnings targets, raising the
streaming service’s revenue guidance for the year.
During Q2 2025, Netflix’s revenue increased 15.9% YoY
to $11.08 billion from $9.55 billion recorded in Q2 2024. It also saw a $3.1
billion net income, edging forecasts of $3.06 billion, while operating income
totalled $3.8 billion, a 45% YoY increase.
Recall that the company had stopped disclosing
quarterly subscriber numbers in Q1 2025 and urged investors to focus on profit
as a measure of its success. It explained that member growth was ahead of its
forecast but occurred late in the quarter, which limited the impact on
second-quarter revenue.
The company explained that it wants to direct its
focus on financials and user engagement and would report the subscribers’ base
when critical milestones are hit. During that time, critics said Netflix made
the change due to its declining subscriber growth rate, even though it ended
2024 with a subscriber base of 302 million.
Looking ahead to Q3 2025, Netflix forecasts revenue of
$11.5 billion and net income of nearly $3 billion, while Wall Street had
projected $11.3 billion and $2.9 billion, respectively.
The company has new seasons of two of its biggest
shows coming later this year. “Wednesday” returns in August, and the
final episodes of “Stranger Things” will be released in November and
December.
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