Following our panel discussion on Thursday 23 June, it seems timely to pursue our exploration of the distribution of Korean dramas by looking at their presence in the Turkish as well as Middle Eastern markets. Indeed, although very few Korean dramas have actually aired in Turkey, they have proven a sought-for source of inspiration for Turkish dramas, […]
Despite the popularity of Latin American telenovelas and more recently Turkish dramas in Eastern Europe, Korean dramas have somehow managed to carve some space on local television. Not much, but more opportunities await. Hungary was the first country to bring Korean dramas, with negotiations between Hungarian national broadcaster Magyar Televízió (MTVA) with KBS and MBC […]
Right off the plane back from Hong-Kong, where she spent an early Easter break, my friend told me that her mother recommended her to watch the KBS drama called Descendants of the Sun. Not normally a big fan of Korean dramas, little did she expect to like it so much to end up binge-watching it on her […]
As Africa is starting to attract eyeballs from content distributors, in particular thanks to a number of emerging cable television and on-demand platforms, it would be timely to look at how the landscape looks like for Korean dramas. An interesting case and exception on the African continent, GBS (Good News Broadcasting System) is a Kenyan […]
Western Europe has probably been the hardest market for Korean dramas to break into, given the already well established TV production industries, audiences’ preferences for local flavours and/or American crime procedurals and soaps, as well as strong disparities between countries. This is why we have chosen to start with this region to kick off our new […]
ScreenHits.tv, a UK startup that runs an online marketplace for TV content buyers, has added a small selection of Korean dramas to its highly curated platform. Instead of providing hundreds of movies and TV shows like Netflix and Amazon, ScreenHits’ strategy has been to select a limited number of programs that are considered of interest for […]
Cultural trends are often combinations of the zeitgeist and more rational triggers. Among them is the work and efforts of those who, behind the scene, have directly or indirectly, actively or passively, promoted them. In the case of Korean dramas, we could say that Korean TV executives may have indirectly made their colleagues aware of the audience’s […]
On November 26, the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) made public the results of a study it conducted in the United States about the consumption of Korean television dramas. Just to put this is context, KOCCA supports the promotion of Korean creative industries in international markets, and as such this study shall serve the companies […]
On September 24, The Hospital Club welcomed a number of important personalities from the Korean drama industry, as producers and executives from the major broadcasters came to attend a K-Drama Showcase – part of the KCCUK’s K-Drama Week. After a first session dedicated to explore collaboration opportunities between South Korea and the UK, which the […]
The buying spree started last year, when Japanese ecommerce giant, Rakuten, founded by Hiroshi Mikitani in 1997, announced in September 2013, that it would acquire Viki for $200 million. Although Viki streams a wide diversity of foreign-language series, its strongest programming has been Korean dramas. The move came up as Rakuten are investing heavily in […]