Squid Game Season 2’s True Value To Netflix Reportedly Revealed, And It’s Nearly 4x More Than Their Average Original

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9 hours ago

Squid Game Season 2’s True Value To Netflix Reportedly Revealed, And It’s Nearly 4x More Than Their Average Original

Squid Game season 2’s true value to Netflix has reportedly been revealed, and it’s nearly four times more than their average original production. Much like the debut season of the survival thriller, Squid Game season 2 was a global success for Netflix. As of writing, the newest season sits at 1.36 billion hours watched across 190.1 million views, making it the Number 2 most-watched Non-English language show on the platform, just behind season 1. The series’ massive success has been seen with its pop culture popularity as well, reflective of the numbers it’s maintained on the platform.

Now, Owl & Co. (via Puck) has released a report about Netflix’s “Cost Per Thousand Viewing Hours” data, revealing Squid Game season 2 to be almost four times more valuable than the average original produced by the platform. To get to this conclusion, analyst Hernan Lopez divided Netflix’s $15.3 billion spent on programming by their 188 billion hours of watch time, getting an average of $81 per thousand hours viewed. Splitting this further, he calculated the average cost per thousand hours of Netflix originals is $105.

In contrast, however, Squid Game season 2, which had a reported budget of $70 million, cost $28 per thousand hours viewed because of its massive popularity. This makes season 2’s “Cost Per Thousand Viewing Hours” 3.75 times lower than the average Netflix original program, meaning the company got more viewers than average for the amount of money they spent. This makes Squid Game season 2 one of the highest-valued programs on the platform.

What Squid Game’s High Value Says About Netflix Originals

Lower Costs & More Viewership Is The Goal

The numbers are indicative that the Korean thriller is the kind of programming Netflix is striving for when it comes to the cost of what they produce. By spending just $28 per thousand hours viewed, the series proves itself a valuable asset, as its cost is much lower than the average of $105 per thousand hours. The data also looked at the $80 million movie Extraction 2, which cost $160 per thousand hours viewed; presented as not bad for a movie, but also clearly far less than what Squid Game season 2 ended up costing.

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The show’s overall popularity explains why Netflix wants to keep the series going, given its cost per thousand viewers is so low compared to even some of their most popular shows and movies. While there’s no guarantee Squid Game season 3 sees the same high numbers in viewership, historically, it’s likely to come close to seasons 1 and 2 in terms of thousands of hours watched. It also explains why they’re developing an English-language remake from director David Fincher, especially if they can keep costs per season down.

Our Take On Squid Game Season 2’s Value To Netflix

The Show’s Worth Means The Streamer Should Be Taking Notes

Given how the budget for Squid Game season 2 shaped up in comparison to how much money per thousand viewers it cost, Netflix should consider taking these factors into account when making original programming. Shows with lower budgets will, inevitably, have a lower cost per thousand viewers than more expensive series, something that could be employed in how they budget what they have in development. With the company set to invest $18 billion in content production this year, perhaps some of that will go toward less expensive originals.

Squid Game season 3 arrives June 27, 2025 on Netflix.

Source: Owl & Co. (via Puck)