Popular Korean dramas on Netflix such as “Squid Game”, “The Glory” and “Hellbound”… once dominated the non-English drama series rankings. However, recently, original Korean dramas produced with higher production costs are having a hard time achieving the same results.
According to Netflix’s “Global Top 10” list, which ranks its titles in four categories including “Movies (English)”, “Television (English)”, “Movies (Non-English) ” and “Television (Non-English)” based on views, or total hours watched divided by total time broadcast, “Mask Girl” was the last to top Netflix’s global top 10 list in Television (Non-English) sector, in the third week of August 2023.
Korean dramas are no longer “hot”?
“Squid Game” is a huge success on Netflix. Photo: Netflix.
Since August 2023, Netflix has released a series of Korean original dramas produced on a large scale such as: “Song of the Bandits”, “Doona!”, “Sweet Home 2” and “Gyeongseong Creature”. “.
Despite a star-studded cast and budgets that often exceed previous Netflix Korean originals, recent films have failed to take the top spot on Netflix’s ratings list.
According to industry insiders, Netflix has invested about 36 billion won (27 million USD) to produce “Song of the Bandits”, a television series released in September 2022, focusing on Koreans. Quoc lived in 1920, during the Japanese colonial period. This drama is one of Netflix’s original Korean drama series with the highest budget.
Despite the media hype that this TV series could be the next “Squid Game”, a film made on a smaller budget, “Song of the Bandits” only entered the global top 10 list in the Television (Non-English) category for the three weeks from September 18 to October 8, ranking 6th, 2nd and 9th.
“Squid Game” is rumored to have been made at a cost of 30 billion won, staying on the list for 16 consecutive weeks, and ranked No. 1 for 9 of those weeks.
“Doona!” – nine-episode romance drama starring K-pop star Suzy, rumored to have been made on a budget of between 20 billion won and 30 billion won, while “Sweet Home 2” is said to have The budget was higher than the first part, which had a production budget of 30 billion won.
Despite high production costs, both titles failed to crack the global top 10 list in the Television (Non-English) category for more than two and three weeks respectively.
A scene from the movie “Gyeongseong Creature”. Photo: Netflix.
Netflix’s original fantasy drama series “Gyeongseong Creature”, rumored to have a whopping budget of 70 billion won, ranked 3rd on the global top 10 list in the television category (non-English) in three weeks.
“The production costs for ‘Gyeongseong Creature’ are too high,” said an anonymous industry insider.
“In terms of investment, the film should have been at the top of the list, at least once. The title was recently released, so we have to monitor the situation a little longer, but the prospects of ” Gyeongseong Creature” winning the No. 1 spot seems a bit unlikely,” this person shared.
Experts say that the reason Netflix’s original Korean dramas are having difficulty in Netflix’s global rating system may be because of the recent “trend” of producers to attract viewers with special effects. especially “shocking”.
“Focusing on monster horror series and fantasy genres, (Korean producers) are trying to attract viewers’ attention with special effects instead of storytelling skills,” the producer said. said pop culture critic Kim Hern Sik.
He added: “Focusing on big budgets, aiming to emphasize special effects and trying to make content more appealing (through such efforts) are factors that reduce influence.” worldwide and the popularity of Korean films”.
According to experts, there are objective factors that also contribute to the decline in the performance of Korean shows on Netflix.
“The Glory” resonates in the international streaming film market. Photo: Netflix.
“When the pandemic ended, viewers started moving away from streaming platforms. Watching hours overall decreased. Such a phenomenon makes one wonder whether a series like “Squid Game” will get a response similar explosion if it is released around the end of 2024 or not,” Mr. Kim said.
Kim Hern Sik said that Koreans can be unrealistic when evaluating the success of domestically produced content, distracted by the surprising success of “Squid Game” and “The Glory.”
“Korea sets the bar for success on Netflix too high. Globally, awareness of Korean content is still significantly lower than content produced in English. Just making it to the top 10 in the non-speaking category English is enough for recognition,” he said.
Kang Eun Kyung, screenwriter of the movie “Gyeongseong Creature” said: “We consider Netflix as a means for our work to achieve a global spread effect.”
