Have you all of a sudden been seeing Netflix advents left, right and centre? Well, it seems the streaming service is facing stiff competition from its competitors.
The overwhelming worldwide 'Squid Game' success could see Netflix make huge profits from the South Korean survival series.
According to reports, the streaming giant, which is currently the number one streaming service in the world, could make $891 million due to its success.
The biggest surprise of the year in terms of TV shows, 'Squid Game' has been trending globally ever since launching less than a month ago. Within its first three weeks, it also became the most-viewed Netflix original series ever, replacing 'Bridgerton' as the number one series with the most views within its first month of launching.
Originally created by writer and director Hwang Dong-hyuk in 2008, it took over 10 years before he found a TV network (Netflix) to have an interest in his deadly concept. The series sees 456 people take part in a series of children's games in order to take home a large sum of money - but one minor slip up and they say "bye-bye" to their lives.
Variety has got their hands on some leaked data from Netflix, which shows that they expect to make a hefty profit from the series. With an overall budget of $21.4 million, the streamer expects to make $891 million in "impact value". This effectively means the company expects millions of new subscribers to want to tune into the series to see what all of the fuss is about, earning them 40 times more than what they spent on the series.
But Netflix isn't the only business expected to profit off of the 'Squid Game' success. South Korean stocks rose incredibly over the past couple of weeks, and fashion retailer Vans has also seen a surge in profits due to fans wanting to buy the footwear that the contestants on the series wear, which is their white slip-on trainers. Apparently, everyone is going to be dressed as a 'Squid Game' contestant this Halloween.
Within the past few months, it has been well documented that Disney+ is quickly gaining on Netflix in subscriber numbers. Earlier in the year, it was predicted that the House of Mouse streaming service, due to its vast back catalogue of content ('Star Wars', Marvel, Pixar and now more adult content with Star), would eventually overtake Netflix as the world's largest streaming service.
In response, Netflix has bought the rights to the 'Knives Out' sequel, will now be the home of Roald Dahl content, and also has plans to expand into the ever-evolving (and high-profiting) gaming industry.
