YouTube Content of ‘Squid Game’ Outnumbers ‘Game of Thrones’

This image provided by Netflix shows a scene from “Squid Game.”

SEOUL, Nov. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — The South Korean phenomenon “Squid Game” has outnumbered the longtime TV powerhouse “Game of Thrones” in terms of combined YouTube views of its derivative video content, a U.S. media outlet has reported.

A total of 129,000 videos of the survival drama, including official trailers, fan-made reaction clips and video games, have earned a total of 17 billion views on the platform since the show’s release on Sept. 17, Variety said Wednesday (U.S. time), citing a report by content analytics firm Vobile.

Those “Squid Game” YouTube videos had a combined 533 million engagements — likes, dislikes and comments — over the nearly eight-week period.

In comparison, the American fantasy drama series “Game of Thrones,” which premiered in 2011 on HBO, posted a combined 16.9 billion views from 420,000 uploaded YouTube videos, with an estimated 233 million engagements, according to the report.

Variety said HBO’s juggernaut “Game of Thrones” is crushed by “Squid Game,” which “saturates global culture and streaming charts, and YouTube is no exception.”

Since its release, “Squid Game” has become a global sensation and Netflix’s most-viewed original series of all time, with more than 140 million households viewing the show in its first four weeks.

Director-writer Hwang Dong-hyuk confirmed Tuesday that he will work on the second season of the show to meet global demand.

“Squid Game” features a mysterious competition where hundreds of people desperately play kids’ games at the risk of their lives with hopes of winning 45.6 billion won (US$38.5 million) in prize money.

(Yonhap)