Netflix Marks a Decade in Korea Amid Corporate Restructuring

Netflix staged a two-day fan festival at Seoul’s Sangam Oil Tank Culture Park, beginning on Oct. 24. The event, “Netflix Janchi,” drew more than 10,000 on-site fans and about 3.5 million concurrent online viewers across YouTube, CHZZK and TikTok. Stars from hit Korean series—including Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-hun, Park Hae-soo, Ahn Hyo-seop and casts of *D.P.*, *Hellbound*, *Mask Girl* and *The Trauma Code*—appeared on stage. Ted Sarandos used the platform to preview upcoming Korean titles such as *Possible Love*, *Tantara*, *Grand Galaxy Hotel*, *She, Wolf*, *All of Us Are Dead* Season 2 and the live-action adaptation of *Solo Leveling*.

Variety Magazine

Netflix launched in South Korea on Jan. 6, 2016. Its first Korean original was the stand-up special *Yoo Byung Jae: Too Much Information* (Mar 2018), followed by the series *Kingdom* (Jan 2019). By mid-2021, *Kingdom: Ashin of the North* entered the Global Top 10 in 58 countries, the first Korean show to do so. Over the decade the streamer has partnered with more than 80 Korean production companies and filmed in over 100 towns and cities.

Variety Magazine

• More than 200 Korean titles have appeared on Netflix’s Global Top 10 chart since June 2021.

Hollywood Reporter

• *Squid Game* Season 1 logged 32 consecutive weeks in the Top 10, the longest run of any non-English series.

Deadline Hollywood

• Between April 2025 and March 2026, Korean productions generated over 12 billion viewing hours, second only to U.S. content.

Variety Magazine

• Netflix reports that over 80 % of its global subscriber base has watched at least one Korean title.

Hollywood Reporter

Netflix’s internal communications framed the Korean market as “more than a market” – a partner that “revealed new possibilities” and showed how far a story can travel. The company also cited ancillary benefits: 72 % of viewers of Korean content expressed interest in traveling to Korea, with tourism spikes recorded in Jeju and other filming locations.

Variety Magazine

During the same week as the Seoul celebration, Netflix announced a restructuring that affected roughly 1,000 employees, about 6 % of its workforce. The layoffs included chief content officer Bela Bajaria and several senior executives. viewer engagement, as reported in the latest quarterly earnings.

NPR

Netflix’s decade in Korea has spurred significant economic activity. Production for *When Life Gives You Tangerines* involved nearly 4,000 suppliers and a cast and crew of 600, injecting roughly KRW 90 billion (? $60.4 million) into the local economy. Training programs reached over 6,500 Korean participants between 2021 and 2025, and the platform now works with 122 localization partners worldwide, 119 of which are dubbing studios. The success of Korean titles has also influenced ancillary markets: Duolingo reported a 37 % rise in new Korean learners during the launch week of *Squid Game* Season 3, and applications for Korea’s TOPIK language exam surged to 550,000 in September 2025.

Variety Magazine

• “Ten years ago, we dreamed big, but none of us could have imagined that Korean stories would move hearts around the world, and land right at the center of global culture,” — Ted Sarandos

Deadline Hollywood