Netflix officially announced that in the first month of the launch of "Squid Game" (counting 28 days), it has received more than 111 million views, which has greatly refreshed the record of 82 million first-month views held by "Bridgeton".
The upcoming movies and dramas are also full of big coffee, which is full of everyone's expectations.
The C position in the list of films to be broadcast is definitely the most popular crime suspense drama in South Korea, "Suriname".
Starring, Ha Jeong-woo, Hwang Jeong-min, Jang Jin, Park Hae-so, Cho Woo-jin, Cho Cho Cho Hyun, Yoo Yan-seok, listen to this name, the lineup is invincible. The drama is based on real events, and the production cost is as high as 35 billion won, which is a big step towards the Korean version of "Narcos"!
There is also the thriller science fiction theme "Silent Sea" starring Bae Doona + Kong Liu; the movie "Night Fork" starring Xue Jingqiu, one of South Korea's "troika".
The types are diverse, and the content is constantly subdivided, it must be said that after five years of experimentation and development, Netflix's layout in South Korea has finally taken off, and it is the kind of take-off that "good winds rely on strength to send me to Qingyun".
01 Layout
Today, Netflix has become a global streaming giant, and this status is irrefutable. The total number of members exceeded 200 million, and the broadcast content covered more than 190 countries and regions around the world.
In 2020, paid memberships increased by 37 million, and full-year free cash flow reached $1.9 billion, turning negative and breaking the company's record for growth in history. Among them, of course, there are reasons for eating the epidemic dividend, but we also have to praise Netflix's long-term vision.
As early as 2010, Netflix went out of the United States, launched TV and streaming services in Canada, and established markets in Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe, because focusing on the world is an important strategic initiative of Netflix.
The reason is simple, the core area that Netflix initially seized was the North American region, and with continuous development, it is an indisputable fact that new users have slowed down and lost.
Although North America is still a major contributor to the company's revenue from the financial report, the growth rate of paying users in the Asia-Pacific region is very eye-catching, becoming a highly anticipated new star.
As of June this year, Netflix's asia-Pacific paid subscribers were 27.88 million, up 23.9% from the same period last year. In North America, the number of new users grew negatively, with 430,000 lost users.
Comparing the two, it is not difficult to see the importance of the globalization strategy.
But the road to globalization is not easy, in 2011, Netflix began to enter the Latin American market, at that time, they have not yet begun to do self-made content, chose to buy the Rights of American Dramas on American Cable Tv and broadcast it to local users.
Due to the large cultural differences between the two, the user acceptance is not high and the effect is not ideal. After a lot of research and accumulated experience in the early stage, Netflix made a truly localized "Narcos" in 2015, which quickly opened up the Latin American market.
Today, the number of paying users in Latin America continues to grow, with 800,000 new users in Latin America in this year's latest data, reaching 38.7 million.
After tasting the sweetness of the global layout, Netflix decided to develop the Asian market based on the advantages of Japan and South Korea's own film and television culture.
However, the development in Japan is a bit of a twist and turn, and only dramas such as "Spark" and "Naked Director" have successfully come out of the circle, so they have adjusted the focus of cooperation to South Korea.
First, in 1997, a financial storm occurred in Asia, South Korea was seriously damaged, and then proposed a "cultural country", began to vigorously develop film and television, music, tourism and other industries, South Korea's cultural industry export scale ushered in rapid growth.
It was also during that period that Korean dramas gradually went abroad and swept across Asia.
Although everyone often complains that Korean dramas have three treasures, "car accidents, cancer, and incurable", it is undeniable that Korean dramas, idol culture, variety shows, etc. are popular in Asia, and Hallyu culture has a certain influence in the world.
Second, in 1998, South Korea abolished the film censorship system and began to adopt a rating system, stipulating that movies are divided into five levels: the whole people, 12 years old or older, 15 years old, and 18 years old can be watched and restricted.
After that, the maturity of the film market has become higher and higher, the content has become diversified, the operation has gradually become marketized and highly industrialized, and the talents and technologies of the Korean film and television industry have been greatly improved.
Third, South Korea's network construction is very mature, which is actually quite important for the development of streaming media, to know that the biggest obstacle to Netflix in Mexico that year was the small number of broadband users, but also with local mobile operators to solve broadband and network problems, to ensure subscriptions and website functions.
02 Patience
Now that the development potential of South Korea has been confirmed, Netflix is ready for long-term cooperation.
More than a decade of experience has taught them that making high-quality original homemade content is not something that can be achieved overnight, and that true "localization" requires a long period of understanding and familiarity.
In 2016, Netflix began offering streaming services in South Korea.
In the testing stage, they mainly buy episodes.
In 2016, Netflix bought "The City That Never Sleeps" and "The Voice of the Heart".
In 2017, it signed a 600-hour program contract with JTBC, including the hit drama "The Secret Forest" and other dramas.
In order to expand his influence, in the same year, he cooperated with the well-known director Bong Joon-ho to launch the film "Yuzi", which was shortlisted for the main competition unit of the Cannes Film Festival.
However, to everyone's surprise, Netflix's first self-made Korean drama "My Only Love Song" was not ideal after broadcasting.
The theme is the fantasy youth love that the Korean production team is good at, but the co-director Min Doo-sik has no special work, at present, the drama Douban score is 6.2, the number of ratings is 202 people, and there is almost no splash.
This defeat made Netflix temporarily slow down the pace of self-control and decided to cooperate with the three major Korean television stations, but the "house leak was partial to the overnight rain" was rejected one after another.
A year later, it reached a content cooperation with the cable station tvN, jointly launched the high-reputation Korean drama "Mr. Sunshine", and obtained the permission to broadcast it simultaneously around the world.
After that, they bought the exclusive rights to the JTBC comic adaptation drama "Itaewon Class" and invested in popular dramas such as "The Forced Landing of Love" and "Witty Doctor Life".
At the same time, "buy, buy, buy", but also quickly familiar with the Korean local creation mode and production process.
After the above precipitation, Netflix has locked its cooperation partner into the top local content creation team, while implementing the successful experience of other regions - only give money, but do not intervene in creation.
So, in 2019, "Kingdom" turned out.
Historical elements + zombie theme, suddenly grabbed the audience's attention, coupled with an excellent production team and cast, the "Kingdom" series has become a landmark work of Netflix's cooperation with Korean film and television, a veritable Asian blockbuster drama.
"Kingdom" screenwriter Jin Yinji's sentence, "Netflix never expresses any opinion, only gives money." "I don't know how many content creators have attracted good feelings."
The more top content creators, the more they want creative freedom, Kim Yin-hee once said that she had begun to conceive of this story as early as 2011, but the Korean TV drama market could not produce the effect she wanted, so there was no shooting plan.
And Netflix is a good Bole, they provide free creative space, do not limit the subject matter and scale, to ensure that the screenwriter and director can shoot scenes such as blood and violence that serve the plot.
With the great success of the "Kingdom" series, more and more "Korean original + Netflix promotion" episodes have been hatched.
In 2020, "Human Classroom", known as the drama version of "Room N", was launched, focusing on aiding young girls and juvenile delinquency, and carefully describing the adolescent groups that are prone to misdirection.
In 2021, the eyes were on the military bullying under south Korea's military service system, and the "D.P. Desertion Pursuit Order" was launched, which aroused strong resonance among the public.
The diversity and speculation of Korean film and television works in terms of subject matter has also begun to be admired.
The recent hit "Squid Game" has greatly increased the stock price of Netflix, with the simplest game, to test the complexity and multi-faceted nature of human nature.
"This is the first Netflix original Korean drama to reach the top in North America, and it is also the first Korean drama in history to achieve a truly global phenomenon." Such a popular phenomenon of performance can already be compared with the popularity of film and television works such as "Game of Thrones" and "Avengers". ”
After several years of experimentation, Netflix has practiced a set of feasible localization strategies - mining high-quality content in South Korea, cooperating with the best local teams, including directors, screenwriters, actors, etc., and then investing a lot of money to let the team create a work, hold the copyright in their own hands, and then promote it to the world.
It has to be said that the model of "Korean original + Netflix promotion" is successful.
Because Netflix and the Korean film and television industry have got what they want.
Fame and fortune, mutual achievement.
03 Win-win
Up to now, Netflix's total investment in Korean film and television dramas has exceeded 770 billion won (about 4.2 billion yuan), and more should be invested in the future. Because they know that they are spending this money very well.
As Achu said at the front, Netflix is already the boss of streaming media, but it has gradually entered the defensive stage.
At that time, they increased stickiness with low prices, innovation, massive film libraries and user scoring (this is quite like Douban), and won the competition with the film rental giant Blockbuster.
Today, Disney, which has many original IPs, in 2019, the streaming platform Disney+ is online, charging $6.99 per month. This is much lower than the standard Netflix membership price of consecutive price increases.
Keep in mind that last November, the subscription price for members in the United States was raised from $12.99 to $13.99 for the standard package and $17.99 for the premium package.
The low price is only one aspect, and Disney's confidence in the throne is also due to the fact that it currently sits on four major streaming platforms, namely Disney+, ESPN+, Hulu and Hotstar.
As of the end of June this year, the total number of subscribers to Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu was about 174 million. Compared with Netflix's more than 200 million subscribers, the gap is not so large that people lose the motivation to struggle.
Research firm Digital TV Research has also released a forecast, saying that Disney's total streaming users will surpass Netflix in 2025 to become the world's largest streaming company.
In addition to Disney, a strong competitor, streaming platforms such as HBO Max, Amazon, and Apple TV+ have also risen, so Netflix is not Jiang Ziya who can sit firmly on the Diaoyutai, but to continue to fight and fight, and walk out of a Nezha that belongs to its own path.
The global layout, including the Layout of the South Korean side, is helping Netflix stabilize the situation and build its own moat.
This has proved to be effective, and the financial report in the second quarter of this year shows that Netflix's Asia Pacific market achieved revenue of $799 million, accounting for 11% of total revenue, and 1.02 million new paying users, the fastest growth rate.
(From U.S. Stock Research Agency)
In addition, this model is also of great value to the export of Korean culture and the development of the Korean film and television industry. In the past two years, the influence of Korean film works and filmmakers has gradually increased.
For example, the popularity of "Kingdom" and "Squid Game" are both very successful cultural exports.
For example, in 2020, Bong Joon-ho won the Academy Award for Best Director for "Parasite"; in 2021, Yoon Ru-jeong won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
If Bong Joon-ho uses "Parasite" to show the gap between the rich and the poor of capitalism, then "The Squid Game" once again reinforces the psychological gap between people in this gap and the degeneration that may occur when personally experiencing it.
People around the world learn about Korean history, culture and Koreans' reflections on capitalism through Korean dramas.
With the help of creative freedom, content creators break through limitations, break through the original genre restrictions, change the love themes set by cancer, car accidents, etc., try various genres and themes, and also make Continuous Progress in depth and breadth of Korean film and television works.
In addition, it can also promote the development of the Korean film and television industry and stimulate employment.
In 2021, Netflix increased its investment in Korean film and television dramas, and also led to the construction of a historical film and television city in South Korea.
According to data provided by the Korea Bureau of Statistics, "between 2009 and 2019, the number of employees in the creative and arts services industry in South Korea increased by 27%, while the number of employees in manufacturing, which is the traditional engine of economic growth, increased by 20% over the same period." ”
After the win-win model enters a virtuous circle, it is bound to bring greater benefits to both sides.
Perhaps, this is the modern version of "if you can use the power of the multitude, you are invincible to the world; if you can use the wisdom of the multitude, you are fearless of the saints."
epilogue:
Why does Netflix have to go to great lengths to make self-made content? The fundamental reason is that its revenue model comes from user subscription payment, and only by maintaining enough high-quality original content can it attract users to pay for this content and become a loyal audience of the platform.
Judging from the mutual achievements of Netflix and the Korean film and television industry, Netflix's going to sea is indeed very successful, and the domestic long video platform is also learning from its model and successful experience, but the success of each enterprise has its own results under the interaction of time, location, people and interaction.
Perhaps, we have not yet reached the height of Netflix's globalization, but the prompts of continuously improving the quality of self-made content, firmly holding the copyright, speaking with the work, etc., will never be outdated.
Text/Achu X X Sixteen X Whale