Netflix Korea, the story so far

Back to All News

Netflix Korea, the story so far

Team Korea

Entertainment

28 September 2021

GlobalSouth Korea (Republic of Korea)

When Netflix first launched in Korea back in 2016, we would not have believed that in five years' time we would have made 80* shows and films. It was even harder to imagine the kind of impact we would bring to fans around the world and to the Korean creative economy. Just last week, Squid Game made it to #1 on Netflix US, the first Korean series to do so, and we are amazed to see a Korean show bring joy to so many people across the globe.

Since our entry into Korea, Netflix has brought some exciting changes to the entertainment and media industries - we just didn't know how much, so we decided to find out the true impact of our content.

To get an accurate third-party assessment, we partnered with global consulting firm Deloitte, to estimate the socio-economic impact of Netflix on the Korean creative ecosystem since we started in 2016.

According to the report, our investment in content production in Korea has contributed almost KRW 5.6 trillion won to the country's GDP across related fields, from publishing, to webtoons, to consumer goods. In addition, the report found that we have helped create more than 16,000 jobs. (Read the full report here)

You may wonder, how did they even get numbers like that? Our partners at Deloitte tracked our content and its spread across industries, and across Korea. In the infographic above, you can see that Netflix works with diverse players in the creative industry to make a positive impact on-screen, behind the scenes and beyond. Investing in content has ripple effects that are felt in industries such as production & distribution, media and adjacent content industries.

When most people think of content production, they often think of actors, directors and writers. But there's a whole lot more to making shows and films, including set designers, visual effects artists, editors and more.

We are also glad to see that content created through the hands of various creators also created a "spillover" effect on the original IP content industry, consumer goods, and tourism according to content consumption. In addition, we also know that Netflix has been able to be a platform for the spread of the new Hallyu culture through shows like Kingdom, Vincenzo and even the recently premiered Squid Game! These have all led to increased sales and employment in linked industries in line with the globalization of the Korean Wave.

But our growth at Netflix is nothing without the support of our Korean creators, talent, production houses and companies.

We are so excited to be here, and continue to help bring amazing Korean stories to life. It's been an incredible five years. We can't wait to see what's next.

* Series/films in which Netflix invested for production or produced by Korean production companies and released in Korea or overseas as a Netflix films and series

LINK:	https://about.netflix.com/en/news/netflix-korea-the-story-so-far...
	See more stories from netflix

More from Netflix