Wondering who is winning in the streaming wars in the South Korea in Q3, 2021?

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Presented below is the section for South Korea from The Global Television Demand Report. Enjoy!

South Korea Digital Original Genre and Subgenre Preference

• With a 53.9% share of demand in Q3 2021, Korea was the most drama loving market covered in this report. This is well above the global average share of demand for this genre–47.8%.
• While many Asian markets (like Indonesia in this report) have above average demand for animated content, Korea had the lowest share of demand for animation of markets covered in this report (5.1%).
• Comedy had the smallest share of digital original demand in Korea of markets in this report. The 11.6% share of demand for the genre was well below the global share of demand for comedy–16.1%.

• While Korean audiences had the smallest share of demand for the horror genre in this report, horror-adjacent drama subgenres were popular here such as thriller, apocalyptic drama, and paranormal drama.
• Strong demand for the drama genre in Korea is reflected in the number and variety of drama subgenres in the 10 most in-demand digital original subgenres here this quarter. The 7 drama subgenres in the top ten is the greatest number of markets in this report.
• While both the thriller and romantic drama subgenres are popular in many markets, they ranked highest in Korea (third and fourth respectively) of markets in this report.

South Korea Platform Demand Share and Digital Originals Demand Distribution

• South Korea was the most Netflix loving market covered in this report. 57.5% of demand for digital originals was for a Netflix original in Korea.
• Netflix’s dominance in this market has squeezed the demand shares of other platforms. Apple TV+,Paramount+, HBO Max, and Hulu all had a lower demand share in Korea than in any other market in this report.
• Disney+’s share of demand for originals has really taken off in Korea this year. At the end of 2020, 2.7% of digital original demand was for a Disney+ original series. Disney+’s demand share has more than quadrupled since then in Korea.

• Korea was unique in this report as the only market where the Netflix original K-drama, Kingdom, was the most in-demand digital original. It had 19.63 times the average series demand in Q3 2021.
• All or Nothing: Tottenham Hotspur from Amazon Prime Video had good demand in South Korea this quarter. This is an interesting example of how specific talent can drive demand for a show in a market. One of the players on Tottenham Hotspur, the team featured in the series, is the captain of the Korean national football team.
• Legend of Yun Xi (芸汐传), fromiQIYI, ranked higher in Korea than in any other market in this report and had 2.3 times the demand of the average series.

South Korea Platform Demand Share for Drama & Action/Adventure Digital Originals

• Netflix original dramas accounted for a staggering 71.8% share of demand for original dramas in Korea this quarter. The platform has grown its number of subscribers in APAC this year with the help of highly in-demand local originals.
• Netflix’s dominant demand for drama originals in Korea has mainly squeezed the demand shares for AppleTV+ and Hulu. Korea was the only market where these platforms had less than a 6% share of demand for drama originals.
• HBO Max dramas have held up fairly well in Korea against Netflix’s overwhelmingly large demand share.The platform’s 3.2% share of demand for drama originals was still larger than its global drama demand share (2.9%).

• While Netflix has exceptionally high demand in Korea for its dramas, its 21% share of demand in Korea for its action/adventure series is below its global share of demand in this genre (30.6%).
• Amazon Prime Video’s action/adventure series found success in Korea making up 14.7% of digital original demand in the genre. This is the second largest share for the platform across markets in this report.
• HBO Max’s action/adventure originals struggled to gain traction in Korea. The 8.0% of demand they makeup in this market was the smallest in this report.

Top Digital Original Series in South Korea

Here are the top 20 most in-demand streaming original series in Q3 2021 across all platforms in South Korea:

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