South Korean show Squid Game, topping Netflix charts in 90 countries, vindicates Netflix's strategy of creating franchises using content from around the world
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Context & Ripple Effects
Netflix's breakout South Korean series gave its global commissioning model a clear proof point. Later coverage tied Netflix's local approach to backing ideas broadcasters considered too risky and licensing them abroad, while an internal estimate put the show's value at nearly $900 million through its exceptional early audience response.
The result matters beyond one title: Asia-Pacific later became Netflix's only reported subscriber-growth bright spot, helped by the series' regional pull. Netflix subsequently focused on better dubbing and translation for non-English programming, extending the distribution problem that a global hit exposed.
First-order effects
- Netflix gains a high-profile franchise candidate from its South Korean slate, strengthening the case for commissioning and distributing local-language originals worldwide.
- South Korean producers and talent gain a clearer route to global Netflix audiences as the service validates overseas licensing and distribution of local work.
Second-order effects
- Netflix's success raises pressure on rival streaming services and local broadcasters to compete for Korean projects that may travel internationally, including ideas conventional broadcasters had avoided.
- Better localization becomes a commercial priority: Netflix's later work on dubbing and translations targets the same cross-border audience expansion demonstrated by Squid Game.
Third-order effects
- If locally produced hits repeatedly travel across markets, streaming competition shifts from exporting a single country's catalog to building repeatable regional production-and-localization networks.
- Global franchises may increasingly originate outside English-language production centers, with platforms' distribution reach becoming as important as the original market for a show's economics.
The trend: Streaming platforms are turning local-language originals into global franchise inputs, supported by wider distribution and improved localization.