CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- "Squid Game" is a streaming sensation, but one analyst said it's harder to tell if it is a financial success for Netflix.
"Squid Game" is a South Korean show about people who are deeply in debt who play childhood playground games for money. The winner will eventually take home tens of millions of dollars, but those who lose the games are killed.
The series has been a worldwide hit for Netflix. According to the company's internal audience metrics, 87 million people worldwide have watched all nine episodes of the series from start to finish.
To put that number in context, 83 million people watched the "Who Shot JR" episode of "Dallas" on CBS in 1980.
Media analyst Tom Layson told the WBBM Newsradio Noon Business Hour there's no denying that it's a hit.
"It's really been a cultural phenomenon, and as to whether it's a financial phenomenon, I think it's going to take people with deeper insights than me to really get into that," he said.
Netflix also said that the so-called impact value of "Squid Game" will generate close to $900 million for the company.
Layson said that without advertisers or additional subscriber figures it's hard to tell how "Squid Game" directly impacts Netflix's bottom line.
"When you put people in a small room and build a story around that that really helps you keep cost down," Layson said.
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