'Squid Game 3' Steamrolls Netflix, Sets New High-Water Mark for Non-English Programming

'Squid Game Season 3' has pulled off a feat few series match: FlixPatrol data show the six-episode installment has held the No. 1 spot on Netflix’s global TV chart for six consecutive days, topping the rankings in all 93 countries the service tracks—from the United States and the United Kingdom to Brazil, Japan and Germany.‍

Those territorial wins translate into viewing tallies that border on the extraordinary.  Netflix’s own Top 10 report shows the series collected 60 million views in its first 72 hours, amounting to 368.4 million hours streamed once multiplied by the season’s six-hour-and-eight-minute runtime.  No non-English title has ever opened higher on the platform.

The surge did not stop with the new episodes.  'Squid Game Season 2' vaulted back into Netflix’s non-English Top 10 at No. 3 with 2.8 million weekly views, while the 2021 original resurfaced at No. 6 with 1.7 million.‍ That first season still stands as Netflix’s most-watched title over any 28-day window, amassing 1.65 billion hours in 2021—a mark Season 3 now threatens to eclipse.

“We’re witnessing a feedback loop no U.S. franchise currently matches,” says Park Soo-jin, media analyst at Seoul-based ViewLogic. “Each new chapter reignites demand for the back catalogue, extending lifetime value far beyond a single launch week.”

Historically, Netflix series lose between 45 and 55 percent of their hours week-to-week after premiere.  Even if Squid Game 3 decays at the higher end of that range, the show would still exceed 800 million hours by day 28.  Should churn follow the softer curves seen in Seasons 1 and 2, the finale is on pace to cross the one-billion-hour barrier before July is out—a milestone no non-English programme has reached in a single calendar month.

Critical reaction has been mixed—The Guardian praised the emotional payoff while India Today faulted the pacing—but sentiment has yet to dent audience enthusiasm.

With unbroken chart dominance across 93 countries, nearly 370 million opening-weekend hours and a halo lifting its earlier seasons, 'Squid Game 3' has fortified its status as Netflix’s most formidable global export.  Should current retention rates hold, the dystopian thriller is poised not only to challenge its own franchise highs but to redraw the record books for international streaming altogether.