The popular South Korean Netflix TV series Squid Game has made the Japanese show Alice in Borderland a hit again. Following the launch of Squid Game in September 2021, which tells the story of a group of contestants competing in deadly children’s games, the streaming service cross-promoted Alice. Both shows have a similar action-packed storyline, and Netflix’s strategy resulted in the 2020 survival series making its way back into the trending bar.
Directed by Sato Shinsuke, Alice in Borderland is a sci-fi series where players must participate in challenges to avoid being killed (sound familiar?). When it first released the show was met with positive reviews and was trending for the streamer in over 40 territories.
Netflix’s algorithm has now seemingly worked its magic again as Alice in Borderland has recently experienced a surge in popularity after being recommended to Squid Game viewers. In fact, despite coming out in December 2020, the show has now landed in the streamer’s top ten bar in over fifty countries.
During the seminar at the rights market affiliated with Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFFCOM), as reported by Variety, executives from Netflix discussed Alice’s renewed success. Michael Smith, Netflix’s Tokyo-based manager in charge of product innovation, said: “We were thrilled to see that many members who discovered and watched Squid Game also started discovering Alice for the first time. Our service picked up on this connection and started recommending Alice to more members who hadn’t already seen the show.”
“It landed back in the top ten series ranking in more than fifty countries around the world, more than nine months after its initial launch,” Smith continued. “It also shows that, even without an official marketing campaign, or an existing built-in audience, films and series can become huge hits here in Asia and all around the world.”
Squid Game is currently the most-watched show on Netflix, beating the regency era drama Bridgerton. Currently, we are still waiting on word and details about Squid Game season 2, but at least we have Alice in Borderland to keep us entertained while we wait on updates.
Both Alice in Borderland, and Squid Game season 1 are available to stream on Netflix now.