South Korea has grown into an entertainment superpower — not only is Squid Game the most watched series on Netflix in the platform’s history, the country has also been churning out other international hits such as All Of Us Are Dead, Extraordinary Attorney Woo, and The Glory.
The 2019 film Parasite became the first ever non-English language movie to win the Best Picture award at the Oscars. And this is only a fraction of the country’s new international success next to the massive international fan base for K-Pop and many other genres of art and entertainment.
“The ‘K’ in Korea is ‘cool’ these days,” said David Tizzard, an assistant professor of education at Seoul Women’s University and a columnist for a Korean daily focusing on social affairs.
Korean food, make-up, games, vlogs, queer content, music and dramas are all super in-demand in the international world. The ‘K’ prefix brings with it social capital. A symbol of modernity, affluence, elegance and low-key but hip associations. This is a marvelous transformation for a country which was once associated with poverty and cheap textiles.
Netflix Pledges Billions For Korea’s Entertainment Industry
Last week, Netflix announced that it will invest $2.5 billion in South Korean creative content over the next four years, building on the nation’s already imposing portfolio of movies, television dramas, reality shows, games, and music.
The additional investment was confirmed at a meeting between South Korean President Yoon Suk-Yeol and Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos in Washington. The Korean leader visited the US accompanied by senior executives from many of South Korea’s largest corporations.
Speaking to reporters after meeting with Sarandos, Yoon praised “Netflix’s bold investment decision.”
“The investment will become a huge opportunity, not only for the content industry and show creators, but also for Netflix,” he said. In turn, Netflix’s Sarandos said the move would “strengthen our long-term partnership with Korea.”
“We were able to make this decision because of our great confidence in the Korean content industry, and we will continue to make great stories,” he further stated.
Changing Times Direct Users Towards Korean Content
David Tizzard notes that bands, series and movies from South Korea all share a number of common identifying factors making them attractive to international audiences.
Perhaps the first and most important attraction, for consumers as well as investors and partners, are high quality and production values. Then, there is also the fact that industry has also been revolutionized by technology, Tizzard points out, making content that was in the past illegally copied on CDs now accessible immediately.
On platforms such as Netflix, international consumers can easily find Korean shows, as it is “presented to viewers automatically; it’s there even if you didn’t ask for it,” Tizzard said. Of Netflix’s 231 million subscribers in 190 countries, over 60% have watched Korean content at least once.
“This is what we call Koreanization,” said Tizzard from Seoul Women’s University. With more people around the world gaining a more positive view of South Korea, it gains a stronger role internationally, he added.
“Korea is affecting the world — subtly.”
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