Following the critical and commercial success of Hwang Dong-hyuk’s “Squid Game,” Netflix announced this week that it will release 25 new Korean films and series this year.
Don Kang, Netflix’s vice president of programming for Korea, noted in a blog post on Wednesday that global watching hours of Korean episodes on Netflix increased sixfold last year compared to 2019.
“Squid Game” is Netflix’s most popular original series to date, according to Kang, and was the most watched Netflix show in 94 countries at its height. The majority of Netflix customers who watched “Squid Game” were from countries other than Korea, and many of them went on to watch more Korean material on the service.
“As this fanbase increasingly includes viewers from all over the world, we are excited to continue collaborating with Korean storytellers to bring the K-wave to new heights,” Kang wrote.
Netflix began streaming “Hellbound,” another Korean-language series, just two months after “Squid Game” premiered, with 43.48 million viewing hours, according to Kang. “Hellhound” was voted number one in 34 countries and was in the top 10 Netflix series in 93 countries.
Following its premiere in late December, the science fiction series “The Silent Sea” received a lot of attention and quickly rose to the top of Netflix’s weekly non-English top 10 list.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Netflix spent $500 million on Korean programming in 2021, an amount that will undoubtedly be surpassed this year, though no exact figure has been disclosed.
Kang wrote that the streaming giant’s slew of upcoming Korean content showcases “more of the inventive and gripping Korean storytelling that the world has come to love.”
“We will continue to invest in Korea’s creative ecosystem and, together, we will keep on showing the world that ‘Made in Korea’ means ‘Well-Made,'” he wrote. “This year, we look forward to the new conversations that will be sparked by a new wave of stories, as we help Korean content find homes in the hearts and minds of our global audience.”