Netflix’s gamble on South Korean series “Squid Game” is paying off. The tense drama, which focuses on a deadly competition between impoverished debtors and degenerates for a $38 million jackpot, became a surprise hit in the U.S.
The success sent Netflix’s stock surging to all-time highs. There is a good reason for that: A quick analysis of Thinknum web traffic data suggests that the series has made a meaningful impact on Netflix viewership, and given the platform an edge over competitors such as Hulu and Disney+.
Since the release of the series on Sept. 17, viewers are spending longer on the platform. The average daily pageviews per Netflix user has reached an all-time high, year-to-date. This metric is a proxy measure of how long existing users remain on the platform when they log onto Netflix. The daily average for the fourth week of September soared to the annual high of 3.69 pageviews.
It also looks like more viewers are logging onto Netflix, according to Thinknum data. The average daily pageviews per million has risen to a historic peak for the year. This benchmark serves to gauge how much internet-browsing activity the streaming service captures. In the week from Sept. 20 to Sept. 27, it hit a daily average of 2,519 pageviews per million — its highest total so far in 2021.
Popularity of the series is also giving Netflix a leg up on its competitors. In the month of September, Netflix’s relative change in daily pageviews per user has surpassed that of Hulu and Disney+. By the end of last week, Netflix had increased its daily pageviews per user by 2.4% while Hulu and Disney+ respectively saw their performance on this indicator decrease by 0.3% and 5.8%.
Likewise, Netflix’s relative change in daily pageviews per million over the past 3 months has overtaken that of its challengers Hulu and Disney Plus. On the one hand, Netflix’s statistics on this benchmark show a growth of 13% since early July. On the other hand, Disney+’s numbers account for a 42% decline while Hulu’s present an upswing of 5.1% for the same period.
Although we can’t say whether “Squid Game” is helping Netflix steal viewers away from the other platforms, it's clearly putting the streaming service ahead of the pack. A similar pattern has appeared in the past with other hit shows, like “The Queen’s Gambit.”