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Squid Game Season 3 has officially reached a significant streaming milestone, with 106.3 million views in its first ten days on Netflix, according to the platform's usual measure of total hours watched divided by series length. The third season of the worldwide hit is thus one of the quickest-consumed non-English-language shows in Netflix history, as attested to by the platform's July 2025 report of engagement.
The show premiered to broad anticipation, and with little foreign hype in the form of promotion, it became one of Netflix's Top 10 shows in 93 countries during its first window. From South Korea and the US to Brazil, the UK, and Germany, the popularity of the series remained unmatched, once again demonstrating that language and cultural barriers have little grip on truly global entertainment properties.
106.3 million viewers of Squid Game Season 3 in 10 Days: No sensationalism in shattering records
The 106.3 million views its first 10-day run logged put Squid Game Season 3 in front of many of the new Netflix favorites early in viewership momentum. Netflix's measure—the total number of streamed hours divided by the number of episodes- is always the same, and here it confirms record-breaking first window for a series in its third season, particularly for one not in the English language.
This number is not only reflective of first-time sampling, but of strongly completed rates indicative of view sessions maintained over long periods, a key quality and viewer engagement metric. Such numbers firmly position the series within Netflix's July 2025 Top 10 across multiple continents.
Global chart-topping success in 93 countries
As reported by Netflix's publicly available ratings, Squid Game Season 3 was the No. 1 show in 93 markets when it was launched. The markets cover both established markets, such as the US and UK, as well as newer streaming markets such as Mexico, Turkey, France, Australia, and Japan. The consistency of international ranking represents the worldwide story appeal of the show, which was enhanced by Netflix opting to release the season with dubs and subtitles offered in dozens of languages.
As other programs become more popular in domestic niches, Squid Game persists to reflect a worldwide, broad-based leadership fueled by repeat viewers and new viewers alike watching the series in their original languages.
Marketing strategy: Low-key, but not altogether absent
While Netflix did not debut Squid Game Season 3 with a fancy international red carpet launch or blanket ad push, the service did back the launch with local fan activations, including in Seoul, and relied on trailers, targeted in-app notifications, and good ol' press briefings to generate hype.
This right-wing marketing campaign was consistent with the platform's belief that the franchise would be self-sustaining. Note that while there were some marketing aspects, these were relatively minor in comparison to high-cost rollouts for English-speaking tentpole franchises.
Viewers' behavior and engagement: High retention, high re-watchability
Netflix statistics indicate Squid Game Season 3 attracted not only millions of viewers in the first place, but also held their interest. High completion rates and viewing retention rates are reported, which indicate that the majority of viewers completed watching the season to the end, just a short while after initiation. The same was the case with seasons 1 and 2, as viewers binge-watched episodes and completed them within 24 to 48 hours.
It is also fascinating to observe the influx of viewers going back to watch prior seasons or catch up on them for the very first time.
Driven by story, not controversy
In contrast to most controversy, meme-culture or virality-based streaming phenomena, the success of Squid Game Season 3 seems to be entirely story-driven. There were no external virality or controversial marketing campaigns associated with its release. Its backing was instead established through stable storytelling, good character development, and hard work laid down over its first two seasons.
The figures, then, show legitimate interest, not artificially created hype. This natural path contributes to the legitimacy of the show's place as a contemporary gold standard of streaming, a value of entertainment that doesn't need to be shocking to reign supreme.
A continuing victory for non-English language content
Season 3 of Squid Game's popularity also underscores the rising trend of non-English title shows leading the charts on Netflix globally. Netflix's worldwide strategy, where it places bets on narratives from across the globe, is still paying fat dividends. The popularity of the show across language belts shows that viewers are more open than ever to foreign tales, provided the tale is good.
Season 3's popularity also shows the change in how viewers look at international programming, where story comes first and language or national origin is secondary, something that has been effectively leveraged by Netflix for half a decade.
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By a combination of compelling storytelling, devoted global fandom, and availability globally in dubbed and subtitled formats, Squid Game Season 3 is a poster child for what good stories can do in terms of ruling streaming platforms.
Also read: “Those are the English dubs”: VIP actor debunks the dialogue controversy from Squid Game Season 3
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