Netflix to drop $2.5bn on Korean content after ‘Squid Game’ mania

The announcement comes as South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol is on a six-day visit to the United States.

Netflix has announced it will spend $2.5 billion on South Korean content, the latest sign of Korean culture’s exploding popularity worldwide.

CEO Ted Sarandos announced this on Monday after a meeting with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, who is on a six-day visit to the United States.

“We were able to make this decision because we are very confident that the Korean creative industry will continue to tell great stories,” Sarandos said in a statement.

Yoon hailed the announcement as a “great opportunity” for Korean creators and Netflix.

South Korean film and music have gained worldwide acclaim in recent years amid the stunning success of K-pop acts, including BTS and Blackpink, and films such as the Oscar-winning “Parasite”.

The Netflix series “Squid Game,” which tells the story of indebted contestants in a deadly contest for a cash prize, became the streaming service’s most-watched show of all time upon its release in 2021, quickly surpassing 1, 6 billion views.

More recently, the Korean-produced ‘The Glory’, a drama about a woman seeking revenge against her school bullies, and ‘Physical:100’, a reality fitness competition, have been ranked among the popular shows on the site.

According to company data, by 2022, more than six in ten Netflix viewers watched a South Korean-produced show on the site.

Sarandos said the investment reflected Netflix’s confidence that South Korean creators would “keep telling great stories.”

“It’s incredible that the love for Korean shows has led to a wider interest in Korea, thanks to the immersive stories of the Korean creators,” he said.

“Their stories are now at the heart of the global cultural zeitgeist.”

South Korea’s cultural exports, including music, video games and movies, will reach an all-time high of $12.4 billion in 2021, according to government figures.