K-Drama-Rama: How the Global Streaming Boom Ignited Demand for Content From Asia
variety.comCynthia Littleton Business EditorWhere there’s a yearning for content, there’s a streaming service to meet it. And never has the invisible hand of the market been more evident than in the organic growth of platforms delivering content from South Korea and other Asian countries to viewers well beyond the contintent’s borders.Rakuten Viki is one such streamer that has seen incredible growth during the past few years with viewers logging on everywhere from Latin America to the Mediterreanan to Australia.
Sam Wu, CEO of Viki, which is the streaming arm of Japanese retail giant Rakuten, spoke with Variety‘s “Strictly Business” podcast about Viki’s growth and why Korean dramas in particular are resonating with viewers.“The U.S.
is our biggest market by audience. But we’re we’re global,” Wu says. “We have users in North America, South America and Europe, and Australia and New Zealand and India.
So we really see this fandom growing, not just here in the U.S., which is really strong in terms of the audience reception, but we’re really seeing it grow everywhere around the world.” South Korea’s drama series, known as K dramas, are particularly popular — as Netflix discovered when its investment in original content from Korea delivered with global phenomenon of “Squid Game” last year.
Read more on variety.com
