Blog: Squid Game

The hallmark of the first wave of streaming disruption was video on demand functionality which unleashed a TV show commissioning boom focused upon scripted drama whole season releases. The ad-free subscription-based model removed the need for intrusive ad breaks and sponsor considerations as well as the time and concept constraints imposed by linear prime-time scheduling.

As part of its third quarter financials release, Netflix revealed that it will switch to reporting on hours viewed for its shows and movies, rather than the number of households or accounts that choose to watch them.

Last week, the AT&T Q3 earnings announcement revealed that HBO Max has now reached 69.4 million subscribers (up 12.5 million from last year, and up 1.9 million from the previous quarter). Today, HBO Max went live in the Nordics and Spain, beginning its 27-territory rollout in Europe.

Earlier this week MIDiA highlighted how the format of content is gradually eroding , so much so that a TV series, like Squid Game , can reach bigger audiences and generate more conversation than the decades-old fandom hit series, James Bond .

As video entertainment returns to pre-lockdown consumer choices between home-based, predominately digital, content offerings, and the ‘in real life’ (IRL) appeal of the cinema, the quality of the content is returning to the fore.