Netflix Releases Final First-28-Days Numbers for 'Squid Game' -- Viewers Worldwide Collectively Spent 182,000 Years Watching This TV Show

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Korean-language series drew almost triple the viewing of what was previously Netflix's biggest hit, the first season of 'Bridgerton'

Netflix original series 'Squid Game'
(Image credit: Netflix)

In the end, Netflix's Korean-language series Squid Game wasn't just the most popular show after 28 days. It simply blew the doors off the record, attracting 1.65 billion hours of viewing in its first 28 days of release.

Netflix had previously announced on Oct. 12 that Squid Game, released Sept. 17, had become the platform's most popular show. But this was the first time that the streaming company, which first signaled back in  September that it would start releasing metrics in an "hours viewed" format, released full first-four-weeks numbers for Squid Game.

As Variety noted, 1.65 billion hours equates to 182,000 years. 

The previous record holder was the first season of Shonda Rhimes period drama Bridgerton, which commanded 625 million viewing hours on Netflix in its first four weeks. 

Season 4 of local Spanish production Money Heist ranks third at 619 million hours. Bird Box is the highest ranking Netflix movie at 282 million hours. 

Netflix announced its updated all-time rankings Tuesday in a company blog post, in which it also introduced its new hours viewed format in greater detail, and while also continuing to defend itself against charges of lacking transparency.

You can read all about Netflix's new top 10, which will include a regularly updated website, here. 

As for the rankings, here are Netflix's top English- and local-language shows of all time:

Netflix

(Image credit: Netflix)

Netflix used to rank shows based on the number of accounts that spent at least two minutes streaming a show or movie in the first 28 days. It's methodology now more closely resembles Nielsen's weekly SVOD rankings, which measure shows based on minutes streamed in the U.S. 

Notably, Nielsen counted around 10.5 billion minutes of streaming time in the U.S. for Squid Game in its first four weeks, based on our calculations of the research company's data. That breaks down to about 178 million hours of U.S. viewing time--or about 11% of the overall viewing of Squid Game for the 90 countries in which it was released. 

Netflix has already re-upped Squid Game for a second season. ■

Daniel Frankel
Daniel Frankel

Daniel Frankel is the managing editor of Next TV, an internet publishing vertical focused on the business of video streaming. A Los Angeles-based writer and editor who has covered the media and technology industries for more than two decades, Daniel has worked on staff for publications including E! Online, Electronic Media, Mediaweek, Variety, paidContent and GigaOm. You can start living a healthier life with greater wealth and prosperity by following Daniel on Twitter today!