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Netflix has announced a new reality tv show based on its hit South Korean series "Squid Game".

On June 14, Reuters reported that the streaming giant gave the go-ahead to a new "reality competition" which it promises to be the "biggest ever".

Called "Squid Game: The Challenge", this series will have 10 episodes and 456 contestants, similar to the actual deadly game in the show.

It will include games "inspired" by the show, as well as new additions. The show will be filmed in the UK.

And just like the show, a whopping cash prize of US$4.56 million (S$6.35 million) is on offer, with Netflix proclaiming it as the "largest lump sum prize" in the history of reality TV.

Netflix recently announced that it will proceed with another series of "Squid Game", which is the most popular in the company's history.

Netflix lost subscribers in first quarter of 2022

The reality show announcement comes after Netflix announced in April 2022 that it has lost subscribers for the first time in 10 years.

Back in January 2022, Bloomberg reported that while Netflix had added around 26 million "customers" a year over the past five years, it only added 18 million customers in 2021.

Netflix reported that 2021 was its "slowest year of growth since 2015", and that it only expected to add 2.5 million subscribers in the first quarter of 2022.

This caused shares of Netflix to slip by as much as 20 per cent, to US$404.50 (S$563), causing it to lose US$45 billion (S$62.6 billion) in market value, according to Bloomberg.

However, the actual first quarter numbers were worse, as it recorded a loss of 200,000 subscribers instead of adding any.

According to CNBC, this caused Netflix shares to tumble more than 35 per cent, losing US$50 billion (S$69.5 billion) of its market capitalisation.

"It is now the worst-performing stock of 2022 in the S&P 500, down 62.5 per cent year-to-date," CNBC said in its Apr. 20 report.

Russian invasion to blame

Netflix blamed the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which caused the service to leave Russia and lose 700,000 subscribers.

Without it, Netflix estimated it would have recorded a net addition of 500,000 subscribers, albeit still 2 million short of its first estimate.

It also blamed password sharing among its subscribers for the low growth.

In May 2022, Netflix laid off around 150 staff, mostly U.S.-based employees. Netflix has a total staff of around 11,000.

Fall in market cap

According to another CNBC report on May 29, Netflix's market cap was around US$300 billion (S$417.5 billion) in October 2021.

It ended 2021 with a market cap of US$267.46 billion (S$372 billion), according to at least one online tracker.

As of June 14, Netflix's market cap has been slashed to US$74.43 billion (S$103.6 billion).

Top image from Squid Game Netflix Twitter.