Simply two days earlier than the third and ultimate season of Squid Recreation launches on Netflix, the streamer’s head of Korean content material, Don Kang, appeared on stage on the APOS media and leisure summit to debate the wide-ranging cultural influence of Korean exhibits, the Korean trade’s manufacturing lull, in addition to Netflix’s advert tier efficiency within the nation.
Promotion efforts are in full swing for Squid Recreation, with the forged making appearances in New York and Los Angeles lately — and an enormous Squid Recreation parade is ready to happen in central Seoul on Saturday from Gwanghwamun to Seoul Plaza, co-hosted with the Seoul Metropolitan Authorities.
“At this level, I’m not centered on any numbers or expectations or efficiency, however actually centered on the delivering this nice finale for the followers, and delivering the superb work by all the forged and crew,” stated Kang on the APOS summit, held in Bali, Indonesia. “I used to be simply in New York final week, for the New York premiere occasion, and hundreds of individuals confirmed up. It was simply actually thrilling to see the fervour.”
Kang has labored at Netflix for seven years, after beforehand working in worldwide distribution at Korean conglomerate CJ ENM.
He has shepherded the record-breaking sequence by way of three seasons, working with creator Hwang Dong-hyuk.
“My earlier job earlier than Netflix, I used to be doing worldwide distribution. I knew Korean content material was beloved exterior Korea, however largely within the APAC area, and it was nearly unattainable to increase additional than that market,” stated Kang. “However ever since I moved to Netflix, I actually noticed this surge of world fandom round Korean content material, particularly across the time of Squid Recreation. For most individuals exterior Korea, Squid Recreation was the true first Korean sequence that they actually watched. Ever since then, greater than 80% of Netflix members have all watched Korean content material and lots of of them proceed to take action. It’s a testomony that an excellent present on Netflix can actually broaden that viewers.
“From season one, it took us about three years to supply season two. That’s a comparatively very long time for a sequel,” added Kang. “There was a query of whether or not folks would present up. And what we noticed, the numbers have been unbelievable. The definition of views is drawn from the precise hours watched, and it was greater than 190 million views.”
In simply the premiere week, Squid Recreation‘s second season obtained greater than 60 million views and have become Netflix’s largest present within the second half of 2024. Season 1 ranks as Netflix’s hottest present ever.
Nonetheless, the third season of Squid Recreation is premiering amid a time of nice concern and nervousness among the many Korean movie and tv trade, with the trade going through main points like excessive manufacturing prices and troubling theatrical figures. Korea’s field workplace to this point this yr has recorded its lowest attendance in twenty years.
When requested about these issues within the Korean content material trade and the lull in manufacturing, Kang stated: “There was a time the place there have been wherever between like a 100-150 sequence per yr. That occurred throughout a section when lots of sequence have been being exported to China and we noticed lots of international gamers starting to take curiosity in Korean sequence. However I actually see this as a section as a result of we’ve seen a surge of manufacturing and rising manufacturing prices earlier than, when China was a extremely massive marketplace for us. When it stopped, everybody thought everybody was actually in massive hassle.
“It’s a section. It goes up and it goes down, however I’m very assured sooner or later. I’ve many pals from the native trade, sitting right here on this convention room. It’s a time the place we have to observe self-discipline by way of managing prices. But in addition I do know, we’ve carried out it earlier than, and can come out of this stronger,” added Kang.
Wanting internally, Kang stated that he’s optimistic that the platform may even be capable to experience out this lull within the trade.
“These manufacturing prices are decided by the manufacturing firms, so after we discover one thing that’s attention-grabbing to fee, we predict lengthy and exhausting about what’s the acceptable measurement of the funding,” stated Kang. “We focus on and issues get finalized by way of the negotiations. We attempt to right-size the finances and so long as we are able to all train that self-discipline collectively, I’m very assured concerning the future well being.”
Kang added that in addition to working with veteran administrators, it’s also essential to seek for new expertise and he goals for 20 to 25% of the streamer’s Korean titles to be works from new creators.
On the opposite aspect of price-related discussions, Kang shared that Korean audiences are taking on the streamer’s ad-supported tier at a fee “comparable” to Netflix’s international fee, with 50% of all new members signing as much as the advert tier.
“Our advert enterprise in Korea is monitoring much like what we’re seeing all over the world,” stated Kang. “It provides our audiences and members the selection of how a lot they wish to pay for Netflix, and it additionally creates an excellent alternative for the manufacturers to connect with the tales on Netflix.”
On the partnerships entrance, Netflix has cast partnerships with Naver in addition to Korean automobile producer Kia.
Naver and Netflix unveiled a partnership in September final yr, with Naver additionally providing Netflix’s ad-supported customary plan as a part of its Naver Plus membership since November.
“Our single most essential measurement of success is engagement,” stated Kang. “With Naver, it was an revolutionary strategy to actually discover and have interaction with a brand new sector of audiences in Korea.”
Netflix additionally lately commissioned a third-party survey of over 11,500 folks all over the world about Korean content material, breaking down recognition and fandom, with a majority of those respondents coming from key markets just like the U.S., Brazil, France, India and Japan.
The report, titled “How Okay-Content material is Shaping World Perceptions of Korea,” discovered that Netflix members have been two occasions extra prone to be concerned about Korean tradition, and Netflix members have been additionally twice as possible (63% of Netflix customers vs 36% of non-users) to indicate curiosity in watching Okay-Content material sooner or later.
Drama, adopted by romance after which motion, emerged because the most-liked style amongst Korean content material viewers exterior of Korea.
Kang identified that there’s a optimistic impact from Netflix’s Korean exhibits and content material in producing curiosity about different elements of Korean tradition.
“The nice factor is that each one these exhibits have Korean components — such as you get to look at Korean meals, you get to listen to the songs we sing, the locations that we go to,” stated Kang. “It actually impacts the way in which the world sees and understands Korean tradition. We now have a brand new examine that exhibits Netflix members have a a lot greater affinity in direction of Korean tradition and are extra keen to discover Korean merchandise than non-members.”