Netflix 's "Squid Game " boosted viewership for the Japanese series "Alice in Borderland."- Netflix started recommending the show to users after "Squid Game's" success.
"Squid Game," Netflix's biggest series ever, helped another thriller series about deadly games find a bigger audience.
Netflix recommended the Japanese series "Alice in Borderland" to many users after the success of the Korean-language series "Squid Game," executives said on Tuesday during a TIFFCOM seminar at the Tokyo International Film Festival.
"We were thrilled to see that many members who discovered and watched 'Squid Game' also started discovering 'Alice' for the first time," said product exec Michael Smith. "Our service picked up on this connection and started recommending 'Alice' to more members who hadn't already seen the show."
Here's how Netflix describes "Alice in Borderland": "An aimless gamer and his two friends find themselves in a parallel Tokyo, where they're forced to compete in a series of sadistic games to survive."
Similarly, "Squid Game" features economically disadvantaged characters playing a deadly contest for the chance to win a cash prize.
"Alice in Borderland" premiered in December 2020 while "Squid Game" debuted nine months later in September 2021. But the former saw a "sizable uptick in global viewing" after "Squid Game" became a phenomenon.
"It landed back in the top ten series ranking in more than fifty countries around the world, more than nine months after its initial launch," Smith said of "Alice in Borderland."
"Squid Game" was watched by 142 million households in its first four weeks, well ahead of Netflix's No. 2 series of all time, "Bridgerton," which was watched by 82 million households. Netflix counts a view if an account watches at least two minutes of a series or movie, though it recently said it will begin reporting viewing hours rather than the number of accounts watching a title.
"Alice" isn't the only series "Squid Game" seemed to boost. Another South Korean series, "My Name," quickly entered Netflix's daily rankings of its most popular titles after premiering last month.