Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos is in Seoul to tout the streaming giant’s $2.5bn investment in South Korea, meet with production partners like Park Chan-wook and expound on economic ripple effects.
At an event attended by production partners and press at Seoul’s Four Seasons Hotel today (June 22), the streaming giant executive said: “Over the next four years, we will invest $2.5bn in Korea. That’s roughly twice as much as we’ve invested since we first launched our service here in 2016. And it includes funding for training programs for the next generation of creators in front of and behind the camera.
“We have to invest in their talent collectively as an industry. Between 2022 and 2025, for example, one in five Netflix titles in Korea will have come from a first-time writer or director.”
He added how he met with 100 students yesterday with director Park Chan-wook in Seoul. The director of Cannes award-winner Decision To Leave and Old Boy recently wrapped shooting HBO series The Sympathizer in the US and is in the midst of post-production.
The director said he had briefly stepped away from working on the series remotely with an editor in LA to speak with Sarandos and the students, noting Netflix’s algorithm is so good that “it shows me my own films”.
Park is also working with Netflix on historical martial arts thriller War And Revolt, starring Gang Dong-won and Park Jeong-min, which he is co-writing and producing.
“It’s a script that I’ve been writing for a long time,” said Park. “It was originally not a series but a film. But this size of historical drama with martial arts and action needs a certain amount of scale. It’s because we were able to confer with Netflix on these matters – although I’m not saying we have plenty of money – [that we are making it as a series at Netflix].
“A film’s production budget, no matter how much you have, you think it would be good to have more. But Netflix promised the best support [amongst potential investors] so we are enjoying working now without interference.
“Of course, we’ll find out in editing whether they really don’t interfere or not, but so far it’s been alright,” he added, noting that the streaming giant has helped diversify the choices of filmmakers with its support.
Sarandos stated that the streamer is committed to this partnership with South Korea “because we’ve seen first-hand how much our members love K-Content — with shows like The Glory, Extraordinary Attorney Woo and Physical 100 and films like Kill Boksoon generating enormous fandom and loyalty, often in unexpected ways.”
“Who would have guessed, for example, that a TV show made in Korea for Koreans would cause a craze for green track suits in America, or push sales of Vans sneakers up by nearly 8,000% when released on Netflix,” he said, referencing Korean smash hit Squid Game. “That’s the power of Korean storytelling.”
He added that 60% of Netflix subscribers have watched at least one Korean title, with viewing of K-content up six-fold globally in the last four years. Also, 90% of “K-romance” viewing now comes from outside Korea. Of Netflix’s titles released in 2022, All of Us Are Dead, Carter and The Glory hit the streamer’s Top 10 in over 90 countries in the same year.
Sarandos talked about the “ripple effects around the Korean economy” seen in a Deloitte report in 2021 saying “how the global success of K-content from 2016 to 2020 created approximately KW5.6tn ($4.3bn) in economic ripple effects and created about 16,000 jobs.”
“It’s consistently seen around the world,” said Sarandos. “The release of Bridgerton sparked an increase in tourism in the UK. Sweet Tooth - the production stimulated interest in the locations around the world - sparked a $66m increase in GDP in New Zealand. And our investment in Turkish content has resulted in a positive impact of about $52m on the local economy and creating an additional 3,000 jobs. So we’re very excited to do this and formalise the commitment of our investment in Korea.
“We serve over 230 million households, across 190 countries in over 30 languages. And to succeed we need a wide variety of must-watch films and TV shows to satisfy every mood, taste, culture and language.”
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