There was a valedictory undercurrent to Netflix VP Don Kang’s keynote look Wednesday on the APOS media and leisure summit in Bali, Indonesia. The streamer’s head of Korean content material arrived armed with third-party analysis underscoring the corporate’s instrumental position in fueling the worldwide Ok-content increase — and he spoke simply days forward of the launch of Squid Recreation Season 3, the ultimate installment in what stays Netflix’s most-watched collection of all time.
“We’re all very excited in regards to the Squid Recreation launch on Friday,” Kang mentioned. “And I’m very assured in regards to the well being and the expansion of Korean content material,” he added.
In previous years, Netflix founders Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos have used the APOS keynote stage to stipulate the corporate’s Asia technique. However this yr, it was Kang who acquired prime billing — one more marker of how far each Netflix and Korean content material have come within the final decade.
If there was a second subtext to Kang’s speak, it was extra reflective: the place does Netflix’s Ok-content journey go from right here? Will Squid Recreation‘s astonishing success — with over 600 million international views over it first two seasons — come to be seen as the height of Korea’s popular culture export wave? Or is it only the start of a gentle stream of Korean smash-hits that will probably be considered must-watch by huge swaths of the entire world?
Kang supplied no hints or solutions to hypothesis within the trade about Netflix’s anticipated spinoff plans for the Squid Recreation franchise, however he struck a bullish tone on the way forward for Ok-content. He emphasised that Netflix doesn’t view the style as a worldwide fad.
“For most individuals outdoors the APAC area, Squid Recreation was the primary Korean present that they actually watched, however ever since then greater than 80 % of our Netflix members have continued to look at Korean content material,” he added. Kang pointed to impartial analysis commissioned by Netflix, launched Wednesday, displaying that subscribers are practically twice as doubtless as non-subscribers — 63 % versus 36 % — to specific curiosity in watching Korean content material going ahead.
Kang mentioned Netflix has 15 extra Korean originals coming simply within the second half of 2025. He highlighted a number of of his private favorites on the slate, together with the motion movie Good Information, directed by Byun Sung-Hyun (The Cruel, Kill Boksoon), and the much-anticipated romantic drama collection, Genie, Make a Want, created by Kim Eun-sook, the hitmaker behind The Glory and Mr. Sunshine. Kang additionally spotlighted the returning seasons of Neflix’s actuality competitors collection Culinary Class Wars and Bodily: Asia.
“We had been beforehand extra targeted on Korean collection, however now now we have actually expanded into non-fiction exhibits,” Kang mentioned. “This growth of genres permits us to each please the viewers that already loves Korean content material, and likewise to fulfill new audiences.”
Netflix’s newest analysis report, How Ok-Content material is Shaping World Perceptions of Korea, was carried out by way of a third-party survey of over 11,500 individuals worldwide. The findings underscored the endurance of the Korean wave: within the U.S., 78 % of Ok-content viewers mentioned that they had been looking forward to greater than two years, whereas 23 % had been tuning in for over 5 years.
Ok-dramas topped the record of genres favored by worldwide viewers, with 60 % figuring out it as their most popular type, adopted by romance (54 %), and motion and comedy (43 % every).
The information additionally emphasised Korea’s rising smooth energy. Ok-content viewers had been discovered to be twice as doubtless as non-viewers to need to go to South Korea. Amongst Netflix subscribers, curiosity in Korean tradition was additionally twice as excessive in comparison with the overall inhabitants.
Squid Recreation season three launches globally on Friday. Season one nonetheless ranks as Netflix’s hottest present ever, whereas Season two set a document late final yr for essentially the most views of a collection or movie on Netflix in its premiere week, finally rising to turn out to be the streamer’s third hottest present of all time.
Netflix is pulling out all of the stops to ship off the franchise. On Saturday, a large Squid Recreation parade — co-hosted with the Seoul Metropolitan Authorities — will take over central Seoul. Starting on the metropolis’s historic Gwanghwamun landmark and ending at Seoul Plaza, the occasion will function appearances from stars Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-hun, Yim Si-wan, Kang Ha-neul and Wi Ha-jun, in addition to creator Hwang Dong-hyuk. Netflix has described the parade as essentially the most bold fan occasion it has ever staged.