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The Korea Times

By Park Jin-hai
Netflix is experiencing a decline in its user base as its Korean original content continues to underperform.
Attention is now focused on whether coming titles such as season 2 of Squid Game, slated for release in December, can reverse this trend.
Netflix original Korean series have achieved the top spot in weekly global viewership seven times since the beginning of this year. Parasyte: The Grey claimed the top spot twice, while The Bequeathed, A Killer Paradox, Physical: 100 season 2, The 8 Show and Hierarchy each secured the No 1 position for a week.


However, no new hit series has emerged to follow in the footsteps of Squid Game, which achieved phenomenal success with its first season in 2021, as well as All of Us Are Dead, which ranked No 1 for five consecutive weeks in 2022, and The Glory, which topped the charts five times from late 2022 to early 2023.
Netflix’s recent struggles with original content are tied to its declining subscriber numbers. Since original content is exclusive to the platform, it is vital to increase and maintain its user base to make original content profitable.
Data from management platform service Mobile Index showed that Netflix’s monthly active users in South Korea dropped by 16 per cent in six months, from 13.06 million in December to 10.96 million in June.
According to pop culture critic Jung Duk-hyun, Netflix’s funding decisions favour genre-specific content, particularly action-thrillers like Squid Game, and this has overshadowed other genres that have long been a cornerstone of Korean dramas, such as melodramas.


In a significant milestone for the Korean streaming industry, Tving surpassed Netflix in daily viewing hours for the first time. The daily viewing time of the final episode of Lovely Runner (based on mobile app data) on Tving, which streamed the drama exclusively, reached 2.5 million hours, surpassing Netflix’s 2.41 million hours on the same day.
Netflix, however, still has a few potential game-changers up its sleeve. The most anticipated is the second season of Squid Game, which will be released on December 26.
The platform also has a line-up of crime thrillers and action shows coming up. New romance dramas and variety shows, including a cooking competition and a comedy battle, are also in the works.
The crime thriller drama The Frog, starring Go Min-si, will be released on August 23. The second season of Gyeongseong Creature, starring Park Seo-jun and Han So-hee, will drop in September. The Trunk, starring Seo Hyun-jin and Gong Yoo, and Hellbound season 2, starring Kim Hyun-joo, will be released later this year.


Yim Jung-su, a business communications professor at Seoul Women’s University, said that more original content can tie subscribers to their platforms, and emphasised that original content is still important for platforms to maintain their power.
“In general, the more exclusive and unreleased a new piece of content is, the more advantageous it is in acquiring and retaining subscribers,” the professor wrote in an article contributed to the Korea Creative Content Agency’s recently published Global OTT Trends report.
“This is why Netflix has invested in original content.”
Read the full story at The Korea Times.


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TV shows and streaming video

Can Squid Game season 2 halt Netflix’s Korean viewer decline?

Lee Jung-jae in a still from Squid Game season two. Photo: Netflix

Lee Jung-jae in a still from season two of the Netflix Korean drama Squid Game. Photo: Netflix

Who is Park Ju-hyun, feisty actress known for K-dramas Perfect Family and Extracurricular?

Korean actress Park Ju-hyun. Photo: Instagram/@charmgirl_1005.

Korean actress Park Ju-hyun, star of new K-drama series Perfect Family, who is known for her roles in dramas Mouse and Extracurricular and appears regularly in big-screen roles. Photo: Instagram/@charmgirl_1005.

Park Ju-hyun in a still from Perfect Family.

Park Ju-hyun in a still from Extracurricular (2020).

Park Ju-hyun in a still from Mouse (2021).

Park Ju-hyun in a still from Zombie Detective (2020).

Park Ju-hyun as Park Yoon-hee in a still from Seoul Vibe (2022). Photo: Song Kyungsub/Netflix

Park Ju-hyun (centre) in a still from Project Silence (2023).

Park Ju-hyun and Jaehyun of K-pop boy band NCT in a still from You Will Die in 6 Hours.

K-drama Perfect Family: Park Ju-hyun, Kim Young-dae lead high-energy baroque melodrama

Park Ju-hyun as Choi Seon-hee in a still from K-drama Perfect Family. The KBS drama co-stars Kim Young-dae, Yoon Se-ha, Kim Byung-chul and Choi Ye-bin.

Yoon Se-ah as Ha Eun-joo in a still from Perfect Family.

Kim Young-dae as Park Kyeong-ho in a still from Perfect Family.

Choi Ye-bin as the scarred Lee Soo-yeon in a still from Perfect Family.

Kim Byung-chul as Seon-hee’s adoptive father, Choi Jin-hyuk, in a still from Perfect Family.

Apple TV+ K-drama Pachinko season 2 review: intimacy amid the misery in historical epic

Youn Yuh-jung in a still from Pachinko. Photo: Apple TV+.

Kim Min-ha as the younger Sunja in a still from Pachinko. The drama about a Korean emigrant family’s hardships and heartbreak in Japan returns for a second season that’s just as gripping as the first. Photo: Apple TV+

Youn Yuh-jung as the elderly Sunja in a still from Pachinko. Photo: Apple TV+

Lee Min-ho as Koh Hansu in a still from Pachinko. Photo: Apple TV+

Jin Ha (left) as Solomon and Anna Sawai as Naomi in a still from Pachinko. Photo: Apple TV+

Kim Min-ha (left) as the younger Sunja and Lee Min-ho as Koh Hansu in a still from Pachinko. Photo: Apple TV+

Lifestyle

K-Pop

K-drama

Entertainment

Culture

Film & TV

Scheduled for release in December, season two has a tough task ahead as Netflix’s recent K-dramas struggle


Scheduled for release in December, Squid Game season two has a tough task ahead as Netflix’s viewers in South Korea drops and its recent K-dramas struggle to live up to the success of season one.
