Figure 1 Netflix Korean Shows

Figure 2 Squid Game Korean TV Show

With the rise and popularity of Netflix, there has been a notable increase in television viewership for foreign TV shows. Netflix has provided a technological convenience, the ability to control viewing and relatively new modes of tv production and consumption. Unlike in the past, when TV shows were aired only from America to the outer world, now these shows are also broadcasted from the outer world into the United States (Ju, 2019).

One of the most popular South Korean TV shows “Squid Game”, aired on September 17^th 2021, has become extremely popular by securing Netflix’s number one spot in the list of ninety countries (Correia et al., 2022). Around 142 million households watched the show by consuming 1.65 billion hours. Critically speaking, the topic of the show might have produced a resonance than its marketing. The reason is that the show manifested neoliberal capitalist exploitation, which is not only the topic of discussion in Korea, but rather around the globe in the present times. It can be said that the transnational reception of this tv show not only significantly increased Netflix viewership across the world, but also provided a base that the context/topic of the show can attract viewership outside its national boundaries. 

On a critical note, Netflix should not fix its tv shows to only a few countries, including the United States and UK, or some Asian countries. Otherwise, this practice might create a hegemony of a handful of countries in this field. Additionally, the topic displayed in “Squid Game” portrays the potential to bring transnational viewers into a harmonised proximity. The culture of Korea is different from the US, UK and other Asian countries, but the problems of neoliberal capitalist exploitation, class differences and poverty, among others, are similar. This similarity can be exploited by Netflix to bring worldly issues into the limelight.

References:

Correia, C., Guimarães, B., & Teixeira, S. (2022). Viral Marketing: How Squid Game Became the Most Watched Show on Netflix. In International Conference on Design and Digital Communication (pp. 566-580). Springer, Cham.

Ju, H. (2020). Korean TV drama viewership on Netflix: Transcultural affection, romance, and identities. Journal of international and intercultural communication, 13(1), 32-48.

Written by Yihan Xu (33675720) 13/11/22