Although it has been half a month since the end, the popularity of "Squid Game" has not diminished, with more than 4.09 billion plays on this topic on Douyin alone.
Not long ago, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos said at the 2021 annual technology conference hosted in Beverly Hills, California: "Squid Games" will surely become the world's most popular non-English-language show.
This is another word-of-mouth outbreak of Korean dramas under the Netflix label after "Kingdom" and "Classroom on Earth".
However, although "Squid Games" is extremely popular, South Korea is not the only "true love" of Netflix. In fact, in the strategic layout of film and television dramas in East Asia and Southeast Asia, Netflix has been pursuing "rain and dew".
Japan: Buy buy buy + big IP
Netflix's entry into the Japanese film and television drama market dates back to 2015. At that time, the streaming media war between Europe and the United States was in full swing, and the streaming media platform led by Hulu and Amazon Prime and Netflix quickly divided the local user market in Europe and the United States.
The highly competitive home market and the new growth of users that are gradually saturating make Netflix urgently need to open up a new battlefield, and this time it has set its sights on Asia.
In 2015, Netflix officially entered Japan and launched the drama series "Underwear White Collar" with Fuji TV in Japan. However, as Netflix's first move into Asia, the show is clearly in a bit of a hurry. "Underwear White Collar Storm" is co-directed by Otagata Ryota and Hiroki Hayama, written by Naoko Andana and starring Mirei Kiritani. The series mainly tells the story of the otaku who studies fiber fabrics and grows up after taking up a job at a high-end underwear manufacturer. Workplace, feminine, inspirational, several labels attached to the body, the strong smell of chicken soup makes local audiences not cold to it. Even in Douban, which is extremely tolerant of overseas film and television dramas, the drama only got a rating of 6.4.
"Underwear White Collar Storm"
Inspirational chicken soup doesn't work, and in 2016, Netflix launched the emotional inspirational drama "Spark". Directed by Ryuichi Hiroki, starring Hayashi Shido and Kazuki Hagaoka, learning the lessons of "Underwear White Collar", this time "Spark" is a cruel story painting style, abandoning the japanese drama dog blood, sensational elements, aiming at the ordinary and lonely of small people. Although the word of mouth is strong, the average rating is only 2.71% when it is broadcast on local TV stations.
Subsequently, Netflix has successively launched dramas such as "Million Yen Woman", "The City Where Only I Am Not There", and "Nighthawk Soaring in the Sky", but still has not broken through the circle. It was not until 2020 that "Naked Director" and "Alice in the Land of the Dying" made a breakthrough.
Alice in the Land of the Dead
At the same time, Netflix also smashed the door of Japanese animation with real money.
Netflix has partnered with Japanese animation companies to purchase credit rights in three main forms. The first is to acquire a large number of classic popular animation works, such as "Saint Seiya", "Dragon Ball", "Attack on Titan", etc., with the help of classic works to drive popularity.
The second form is to buy out Xinfan and have its global distribution rights. For example, Kyo Ani cooperated to purchase "Violet Eternal Garden" and so on. With the ultra-long exclusive broadcast rights, it blocked its local network and offline (DVD) distribution channels.
Violet Eternal Garden
The third is to sign a "comprehensive project cooperation contract" with an animation company.
In 2018, Netflix began to experiment with original animation production, and signed "comprehensive project cooperation contracts" with a number of large Japanese animation companies. These include Production I.G, which produced Ghost in the Shell, Bones, the production company of Fullmetal Alchemist, and David Production, the production company of JOJO's Wonderful Adventure.
And from the animation linkage series, Netflix has hit the idea on the live-action adaptation. A few days ago, Netflix's live-action drama "Star Cowboy" based on the animation of the same name has released the film flower, which is expected to be launched on November 19.
Putting aside the huge influence of the animation industry in Japan, Netflix has vigorously purchased animation IP and promoted live-action adaptations and remakes, and also has the meaning of competing with the IP giant Disney+.
Star Cowboy
South Korea: Buy dramas, originals to the studio
Unlike the drama market in Japan, Netflix's film and television road in South Korea can be described as smooth.
After entering the Korean market in 2016, Netflix failed to quickly reach a cooperation with the TV station. But it took a different approach and instead smashed real money into the movie. In 2017, Netflix invested $50 million in Bong Joon-ho's film "Yuzi," which garnered nearly 110,000 new South Korean subscribers for Netflix with high-quality productions.
"Tamako"
Subsequently, Netflix hit the iron while it was hot, starting from the purchase of exclusive distribution of local works, and quickly familiarized itself with the local creation mode and production process. During this period, Netflix invested in episodes such as "The Forced Landing of Love", "Itaewon Class", and "Witty Doctor Life". Of course, there are also controversial works such as "Asda Chronicle", but the stable output of works still preserves the reputation of users.
It wasn't until 2019 that Netflix officially launched its first wholly-owned original series in South Korea, Kingdom. Unlike the realistic theme in Japan, Kingdom combines a zombie theme rarely seen in Asian dramas with historical elements that are more popular in Korea. The seemingly unrelated types, which unexpectedly blended into a different flavor, were very popular once they were broadcast.
The Kingdom
The "Kingdom" series has launched two seasons of positive films, as well as one season outside - "Kingdom: A Letter in the North", which has achieved good reputation. The popularity of "Kingdom" has also laid the tone of Netflix's Korean original series.
Launched in 2020, "Classroom on Earth" focuses on the problem of aiding young girls and discussing school problems and juvenile delinquency; "D.P. Deserter Pursuit Order" tells about the bullying chaos under the Korean military service system; and the recent hit "Squid Game" is similar to "Alice in the Land of the Dying", showing the complexity and multi-faceted nature of human nature in the survival game.
Netflix has also launched love dramas with Local Characteristics in South Korea, such as the youth science fiction love drama "If You Like It, Please Ring the Bell", but on the one hand, the audience of Korean love dramas is mainly aimed at local women, on the other hand, the love theme involving emotions is also difficult to widely disseminate on overseas platforms, so it has not been out of the circle.
"If you like it, please ring the bell"
So far, Netflix's total investment in Korean film and television dramas has exceeded 770 billion won (about 4.2 billion yuan). Big investment may not be exchanged for high quality, but high quality does require real money.
The high investment provides greater space for the creation of Korean film and television dramas, precisely because of the capital blessing. Episodes such as "Kingdom" and "Squid Game" that require the blessing of grand scenes have the possibility of production.
In 2021, Netflix will increase its investment in Korean film and television dramas. At the same time, South Korea is also promoting the construction of historical film and television cities, and there may be more dramas similar to "Kingdom" in the future.
Southeast Asia: Supernatural horror is good-looking, and there are many people who grab jobs
As the strategy of Japan and South Korea is gradually on the right track, Netflix is also continuing to exert efforts in Southeast Asia, but the current situation is not very optimistic.
Netflix's original series have always adhered to the principle of localization. Japan tells ordinary life, reality is inspirational, the inside is the Japanese local people to heal the needs of small luck, South Korea's "Kingdom", "Squid Game" and other dramas, the core behind it is actually still the class antagonism and rich and poor that movies often tell about. When it comes to the Southeast Asian market, Netflix starts directly with religion and spirituality.
In 2018, Netflix partnered with Gmm Grammy, an oligarch in Thai entertainment industry, to launch the Thai drama "Forbidden Girl", which tells the story of a newborn "Nano" from an unknown place, amplifying people's desires and playing with people's hearts in schools. It is a modern warning prophecy.
Forbidden Girl
In 2019, Netflix launched its first original Thai drama "Desperate Island", written by the screenwriter of "Ghost Shadow", trapping dozens of teenagers in private schools on the island and launching a survival game. In the same year, the Netflix original Taiwan drama "The Marriage of the Other Shore", filmed from Malaysia, is also a supernatural theme.
Looking at Netflix's original series in Southeast Asia, there is no shortage of word-of-mouth works, but it has never been able to rise as quickly as in Japan and South Korea.
The reasons are, first, although there are 600 million people in Southeast Asia, the per capita GDP is relatively low, and the acceptance of the concept of film and television payment is not high; second, the religious and political forms in Southeast Asia are complex, the cultural differences between countries are huge, and the universality of film and television works is poor; third, the local film and television drama production experience is insufficient, and for Netflix, which only pays for it, it is difficult to produce original dramas.
And more importantly, the competitors in this market are really a bit much.
In addition to Netflix's old rivals Disney+, HBO MAX and Apple TV+, Netflix also faces competition from Chinese video sites.
The first is Tencent's WeTV, which is a Chinese film and television drama broadcast program launched after Tencent acquired iflix, a local streaming medium in Southeast Asia. As early as 2019, iQIYI reached a strategic cooperation with astro, a local media in Malaysia, to export content and video technology to it. The long-term cultural exchanges between Southeast Asia and China have also made Chinese TV dramas accepted well in the local area.
With 600 million people and more than seven international streaming media competing together, it is a bit difficult to eat this cake in your mouth.
Under the epidemic, Singapore's local streaming media platform Hooq has declared bankruptcy last year, but this Southeast Asian streaming media war has not yet seen the end of the game.
【Text/Jiujiu】