Netflix Report Highlights Global Viewership Trends

Courtesy of JTBC

Korean shows were the most-watched non-English content on Netflix during the second half of 2023, according to a Netflix report released Friday. "What We Watched: A Netflix Engagement Report" revealed that non-English content accounted for approximately 30 percent of all viewing on the platform.

Korean content captured 9 percent of the non-English viewership, followed by Spanish (7 percent) and Japanese (5 percent). Among Korean series, JTBC's romance series "King the Land" (2023) was the most viewed with 33 million views, followed by Netflix original series "Mask Girl" (2023) with 18.5 million views and "Celebrity" (2023) with 18.3 million views. Netflix defines views as the total hours watched divided by the runtime.
 

▲ A scene from "King the Land," starring Lim Yoon-a (left) and Lee Jun-ho / Courtesy of JTBC

Globally, the anime-inspired live-action series "One Piece: Season 1" ranked first in viewership with 71 million views. This was followed by Netflix's German miniseries "Dear Child" with 52 million views and Netflix original series "Who is Erin Carter?" with 50.1 million views.

In the Korean film category, the Netflix original "Ballerina" achieved the highest viewership with 36.2 million views, followed by another Netflix original "Believer 2" with 15.6 million views and "Pinkfong & Baby Shark's Space Adventure" with 15 million views.

Globally, the highest viewership was logged by Netflix's science fiction film "Leave the World Behind," starring Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke, with 121 million views. It was followed by Netflix original "Heart of Stone" with 109 million views and the Netflix animated film "Leo" with 96 million views. 

▲ A scene from "Ballerina," starring Jun Jong-seo / Courtesy of NetflixJung Ji-wook, a pop culture critic, noted the significance of Korean content accounting for nearly 10 percent of all non-English title viewings, given the diversity of countries contributing to non-English content.

Despite the strong performance in 2023, Korean content on Netflix saw a decline in the first half of 2024. Jung suggested that Korean content creators need to innovate beyond changing casts to improve performance.

The report also indicated that as of late 2023, Netflix owned 15 percent of the Korean content available on the platform. In April 2023, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos announced a $2.5 billion investment in Korean content over the next four years during a meeting with President Yoon Suk Yeol.

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