⁍ Netflix’s South Korean business has played a major role in third-quarter growth.


⁍ The company has helped fuel and is fueled by the global popularity of the pop culture machine of South Korea.


⁍ Since 2015, the world’s largest subscription streaming video platform has invested nearly $700 million financing partnerships and co-productions.


– A zombie drama, a TV series about a supernatural nurse, and a book about an antisocial children’s book author helped turn South Korea into one of Netflix’s biggest sources of growth in the international markets, a source familiar with the matter tells Reuters. Netflix said 46% of its net new global paid customers in the third quarter came from the Asia Pacific region, where revenue rose 66% from last year, primarily Japan and South Korea. The source cited data that could be disclosed later this week when a Netflix representative is expected to appear for South Korea’s annual parliamentary audit during which the company’s investment is likely to come up. The company is eager to demonstrate its big investments in the region as well as its role in making Korean pop culture popular more accessible outside of Korea. Netflix’s South Korean business has played a major role in third-quarter growth. The world’s largest paid streaming video service now serves 3.3 million paid members in the region as of Sept. 30, the source said. Overall, Netflix now serves more than 195 million paid subscribers. Since 2015, the world’s largest subscription streaming video platform has invested nearly $700 million financing partnerships and co-productions, the source said. More than 70 Korean-made shows from local creators have been released as Netflix-branded originals around the world and are available in 31 subtitled languages and more than 20 dubbed languages. In October, Netflix released the original documentary Black Pink: Light Up the Sky about the highest charted female Korean act on the Billboard 100.



Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-netflix-results-southkorea/south-koreas-pop-culture-machine-boosts-netflixs-international-growth-source-idUSKBN2752RV