What Netflix’s 1st decade in Korea means for future of K-content

It has been 10 years since Netflix entered the Korean market. After moving beyond the days when streaming platforms were unfamiliar, Netflix has become deeply embedded in everyday life. Over that decade, the way Korean content is produced and the way overseas markets view it have both changed. The globalization of Korean content and the term “K-content” are no longer unfamiliar. In that sense, the mark Netflix has left over the past decade is significant. Ten years ago, it was not common to find such a wide variety of works on a single platform as it is today. After Netflix entered the Korean market, creators gradually gained more options. In particular, works that would have been difficult to make through existing investment models or conventional formulas for success began to emerge. “Okja,” a 2017 Netflix original film directed by Bong Joon-ho, is a representative example of that change. Its unusual premise involving a giant corporation and a genetically modified animal was not the kind of story easily seen in conventional commercial films. As the boundaries of genres and su