KUALA LUMPUR, April 16 — South Korean content has become the second-most watched on Netflix worldwide, according to a new report released by Ampere Analysis.
The London-based research company said Korean content accounted for between 8 and 9 per cent of total viewing hours on the platform.
Only US productions ranked higher, making up 56 to 59 per cent of global viewing hours, Yonhap reported.
Squid Game Season 2, Love Next Door and Culinary Class Wars were the most-watched Korean titles, while older hits like Queen of Tears, Squid Game Season 1 and Crash Landing on You remained popular with international audiences.
Ampere attributed the strong performance to Netflix’s continued investment in Korean productions and strategic licensing deals.
“More than half of Korean titles in Netflix’s top 100 were Netflix originals,” the firm said, adding that most of the remaining titles were licensed, primarily from CJ ENM.
Of the 500 most popular non-English titles on Netflix, 85 — or 17 per cent — were Korean.
The report said Netflix’s planned investment of US$2.5 billion (RM11 billion) in Korean content by 2028 is expected to maintain the current momentum.
Recent performance data supports this projection.
For the week ending Sunday, six Korean series were listed in Netflix’s top 10 non-English shows.
These included Karma at No. 2, When Life Gives You Tangerines at No. 3, Kian’s Bizarre B&B at No. 6, Weak Hero: Class 1 at No. 7, Friendly Rivalry at No. 9 and Resident Playbook at No. 10.
