Giant Netflix wants to support a new generation of YouTubers in South Korea, its CEO said in Seoul on Thursday after announcing a plan in April to invest $2.5 billion in South Korean content.
South Korea, strong on the global hit “Squid Game” and most recently on the success of “The Glory”, is already one of the best breeding grounds for the streaming giant. Its CEO Ted Sarandos therefore wants to “invest in it for the long term,” he explained to journalists.
Outlining the $2.5 billion investment plan announced in April during a visit to the United States by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, the head of state praised “the extraordinary partnership between Korean designers and Netflix.”
“But I think we’re just scratching the surface of what’s possible,” he added, explaining that he wants to support a new generation of South Korean writers and increase funding for original works.
According to him, between 2022 and 2025, one in five Korean Netflix titles will be the work of a neo-author or neo-producer.
So far, the success has been there: by 2022, according to the streaming giant, more than 60% of platform users had watched at least one South Korean production, ranging from drama series to reality TV.
However, that productive relationship is marred by a standoff between Netflix and internet service providers in South Korea, who accuse Netflix of overloading the network without paying the appropriate bill.
In 2020, the American company, which has had a presence in the country since 2016, sued SK Broadband, one of those providers, for confirmation that it no longer had to pay to use its network.
However, the court ruled that it was “reasonable” to “force the platform to give something back”. She called.
In 2021, SK Broadband in turn filed a lawsuit against Netflix to claim additional costs related to the explosion in user numbers and thus data traffic.
This is not a “conflict” with South Korea, Mr. Sarandos assured, mentioning on the contrary a “clear, direct and symbiotic relationship between creative companies like (his) and the internet industry”.
In particular, the CEO of Netflix recalled an investment of around one billion dollars to “improve data distribution in the world and reduce costs”. The company has 18,000 servers in 175 countries that make the internet “faster and more efficient,” he said.