Squid Game Drives Netflix Earnings 15.9% Growth in Q2 2025

Netflix, the leading video streaming service, has announced that its popular South Korean series, Squid Game, accumulated an impressive 231 million views across all seasons from January to June 2025. This information was revealed in the company's latest engagement report, which tracks all viewings on the platform during the first half of the year.

Breaking down the viewership, Season 1 of Squid Game, which was released four years ago, garnered 42 million views. Season 2, released in December 2024, accumulated 117.3 million views, making it the second most-watched series on the platform during the first half of 2025. The final season, released on June 26, 2025, was the third most-watched series of the half, reaching 72 million views in just four days.

Squid Game's continued popularity has been a significant driver of Netflix's earnings. The series, a dystopian horror tale about a fictional, deadly game, remains the most-watched Netflix TV series ever. Its success has solidified South Korea's status as a global cultural powerhouse, alongside other notable works such as the Oscar-winning film “Parasite” and K-pop megastars BTS.

While Squid Game's seasons 2 and 3 were the second and third most-watched programs on the platform in the first half of 2025, the most-watched series was the UK's Adolescence with 145 million views. Other notable series included the UK’s Missing You (58 million views), Black Mirror Season 7 (31 million views), South Korea’s When Life Gives You Tangerines (35 million views), The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call Season 1 (34 million views), and Denmark’s Secrets We Keep (34 million views).

In the movie category, Tyler Perry’s STRAW was the second-most watched with 103 million views. The film, released on June 6, 2025, tells an emotional narrative about the struggles faced by single mothers, black women, and the poor. Other widely watched Netflix films during the first half of 2025 included Back in Action (165 million views), The Life List (96 million views) starring Sofia Carson, and Nonnas (58 million views).

Netflix's revenue for the second quarter of 2025 increased by 15.9% year-over-year to $11.08 billion, up from $9.55 billion in the same period in 2024. The company also reported a net income of $3.1 billion, surpassing forecasts of $3.06 billion, while operating income totaled $3.8 billion, a 45% year-over-year increase. This financial performance was driven in part by the success of Squid Game, which helped Netflix beat earnings targets and raise its revenue guidance for the year.

Netflix had previously stopped disclosing quarterly subscriber numbers in the first quarter of 2025, urging investors to focus on profit as a measure of its success. The company explained that member growth was ahead of its forecast but occurred late in the quarter, limiting the impact on second-quarter revenue. Looking ahead to the third quarter of 2025, Netflix forecasts revenue of $11.5 billion and net income of nearly $3 billion, while analysts had projected $11.3 billion and $2.9 billion, respectively.

The company has several highly anticipated releases planned for the remainder of the year, including new seasons of “Wednesday,” which returns in August, and the final episodes of “Stranger Things,” scheduled for release in November and December. These upcoming releases are expected to further drive user engagement and revenue growth for Netflix.