Squid Game’s Popularity Leads To Internet Service Providers Demanding More Money

Netflix’s Squid Game has taken the world by storm, as it has now become the streaming platform’s most successful show yet. It was also said that Netflix paid $21.4 million for Squid Game. Being a big trending topic right now, it was certain the show was going to get parodied. Now it seems the show has made internet service providers demand more money as well.

The South Korean survival drama has grossed more views than 111 million views already. Just a few days after becoming the biggest show on Netflix, the show earned almost $900 million for Netflix. It even had a council in English concerned recently.

According to Vice, internet service providers all over the world claim the unprecedented bandwidth demands that Squid Game is placing on their broadband networks would signify an increase in their pay. They claim that the show’s popularity has caused a huge surge in bandwidth consumption. This is why they want their share of the money.

Companies both in South Korea and UK have sued Netflix due to an increase in their traffic, so Netflix should provide the proper remuneration. According to John Bergmayer, who is a telecom expert at consumer group Public Knowledge, what the ISPs are demanding simply makes no sense whatsoever.

“It makes no sense for ISPs to cry victim because they provide a popular service, and are expected to provide it. People subscribe to broadband to do things like stream video, and it’s broadband customers who are requesting all these Squid Game streams. They are not somehow imposed on ISPs by Netflix.

Data caps in general make little sense. The individual who is downloading all day long isn’t really a problem, they’re using otherwise idle capacity during slack time. It’s only during the peak hour that anyone’s usage matters.

If it increases peak hour viewing could mean more capacity needs to be deployed. But is a particular show actually increasing peak hour viewing time? Aren’t people watching it at all hours? And don’t they still work, eat dinner, etcetera? Unless it changes behavior and shifts people away from offline activities, there won’t be much impact.”

The show managed to far surpass Bridgerton to become the biggest launch for a new show on the platform. Bridgerton had 82 million first-month viewers after it launched last year. Squid Game has become a global phenomenon and that is unlikely to change anytime soon.

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