Netflix to invest $500 mn in South Korea this year to develop new content

Streaming giant Netflix has announced plans to spend nearly $500 million in South Korea in 2021, thus adding more variety and diversity to their growing slate across the globe. South Korean shows, movies and K-pop have garnered global popularity in recent years, building audience base in countries such as the US and India, which have a robust entertainment industry of their own. “The K-Wave, or Hallyu as we call it here in Korea, is a huge moment of national pride and we’’re proud to be part of it. Great Korean stories are nothing new, in fact storytelling is deeply rooted in Korean culture. “But today we live in a world where Parasite is an Academy Award Best Picture winner, BlackPink plays Coachella, and over 22M households tune into a horror TV series, Sweet Home. Audiences around the world are falling in love with Korean stories, artists, and culture,” Minyoung Kim, Netflix’s vp content for Korea, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand, said in a statement, posted on the streamer’s official website. The streamer revealed that it has introduced over 80 original Korean shows and movies to its members around the world, including Kim Eun-Hee’s hit zombie thriller series Kingdom, young-adult drama Extracurricular and recently released space drama Space Sweepers. “That’s why we’re investing nearly $ 500 million in Korea in 2021 to add more variety and diversity to our growing slate,” Kim added. Netflix has over 3.8 million subscribers in South Korea. The streamer said it will be working with top talent and filmmakers as well as emerging voices from across South Korea to create stories in every genre. “This year, we have Korean dramas like The Silent Sea, Squid Game, and Kingdom: Ashin of the North, bold films like Carter and Moral Sense, new reality series like Baik’s Spirit, documentaries like My Love, and our first Korean sitcom, So Not Worth It,” Kim said. South Korean dramas such as Crash Landing on You, It’s Ok to Not be Ok, Love Alarm and Lovestruck in the City have garnered massive popularity on the streaming platform in the recent years.