Rabat – From “Boys Over Flowers,” to “Playful Kiss,” to “The Heirs.” These are some K-dramas that may evoke sentiments of nostalgia for many individuals, especially those in their 20s or 30s. In the late 2000s and early 2010s, these classic K-dramas were really popular amongst a niche community worldwide.
Today, Korean entertainment has imposed itself on the international industry of entertainment industry. It has become so popular in recent years that it can’t be confined to the “Korean” label.
Popular Korean media boasts many milestones, like BTS’s success, Parasite’s wins at the Oscars, and the immense success of the Netflix series Squid Game.
Korean music, TV shows and movies have earned the right to go global in the entertainment world.
From TV channels to OTT platforms
OTT (Over-the-Top) platforms have immensely contributed to the worldwide success of Korean content. In 2016, the streaming platform Netflix streamed Korean content. The leading OTT platform tested the waters with Korean content by licensing a few Korean dramas produced by various Korean television channels, including TVN, JTBC, KBS and others.
After assessing that Korean content had a loyal and invested fanbase, Netflix produced for the first time their own K-drama “Kingdom,” which was immediately a hit amongst K-drama lovers and even the general audience. Following the success of the first Netflix-produced K-drama, the online streaming service started to invest more of its budget into producing more Korean content. Famous Netflix-produced K-dramas include “Extracurricular” (2020), “D.P.” (2021), “Squid Game” (2021) and many other titles.
2025: the year for K-Dramas?
Netflix has continued to break records in 2025 with its produced K-dramas. The medical and comic-relief K-drama “The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call,” released at the beginning of 2025, garnered a total of 34.8 million viewers in the first week since release. The third season of “Squid Game,” which was released not long after, accumulated a total of 60.1 million viewers in its first week since release. Additionally, the second season of “Weak Class Hero,” which Netflix took over from WAVVE in terms of production for the second season, was able to secure the first spot in the global ranking for weeks for non-English series on Netflix.
After Netflix, many other OTT competing streaming platforms have also stepped in to produce their original Korean TV shows. Disney+ has recently released “Tempest,” which finished airing on October 1, while Prime Video released “Confidence Queen,” which premiered on September 8.
