Younghee, the large robot doll from the Netflix thriller “Squid Game”, on display on the Olympic Park in Seoul, South Korea. Squid Game was a worldwide success and stays probably the most watched Netflix show of all time.
Chung Sung-jun | Getty’s paintings
Netflix spends $2.5 billion on Korean content and sees opportunities beyond the Asian region, said Don Kang, vice chairman of Korean content for Netflix.
Over the following 4 years, Netflix will invest $2.5 billion in every kind of Korean content spanning TV series, movies and non-fiction shows, Kang told CNBC’s Squawk Box Asia. It said it could double the variety of non-fiction shows it produces, from about 4 in 2022 to not less than eight this yr, reflecting the Korean public’s demand for entertainment shows.
These include the “Physical 100” reality show he launched earlier this yr, which pits lots of of contestants against one another in a series of physically grueling challenges.
“I feel it was really the primary non-fiction show that was watched everywhere in the world and really got people excited,” he said. Korean competition or non-fiction shows often don’t travel far beyond Korea and the Asia-Pacific region, but Kang said the success of “Physical 100” is “a really positive sign.”
The Physical 100 topped Netflix’s non-English-language weekly viewership for 2 weeks in 2022. One other Korean variety show that became a global success in 2022 was the fact show “Single’s Inferno”, which Kang ranked among the many top 10 in the world.
Expansion to a global audience
Kang said he worked internationally distributing Korean shows before joining Netflix in 2018. “Back then, it was mostly romantic comedies” that gained popularity, he said. He added that distribution was limited to nearby countries equivalent to Japan and other Southeast Asian countries attributable to language and cultural differences in other regions.
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But Netflix is investing in localization through subtitling and dubbing, which removes language as the primary barrier to entry and “makes a huge difference,” he said.
“You’ll be able to’t underestimate … the varied tastes of individuals around the globe,” Kang said, citing the thriller “Squid Game” for instance. Netflix considered changing the title to something more contextual for international viewers, but ended up keeping its original “catchy title that sparks curiosity,” Kang said.
Netflix korean content list announced up to now for this yr can be moving away from romance, including genres like drama, apocalyptic, in addition to commentary and social intrigue, alongside non-fiction shows.
Kang said Korea has the power to inform stories that capture its unique culture but in addition resonate with the universal emotions of viewers around the globe. “When a show is loved by the Korean audience, there’s a very, superb likelihood that the audience will like it … everywhere in the world.”
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