[HanCinema's News] Netflix Falters While Wavve and TVING Rise

According to figures recently released by Nielsen Korea, Netflix has suffered a contraction in its South Korean userbase. For April, Nielsen Korea projected the streaming platform had 8.08 million subscribers. This is down from 8.24 million subscribers in March, and an even further shortfall from 8.99 million subscribers in January, marking a straight three month drop.

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But this is not a case of a maelstrom sinking all boats. By way of contrast, wavve had 3.31 million subscribers in February but was up to 3.7 million subscribers in April. TVING has had a more uneven performance, with 2.76 million subscribers in February to 3.27 million in March to 2.93 million subscribers in April. Yet all three numbers mark a significant improvement over last Septembers numbers of 2.22 million subscribers.

One obvious explanation presents itself for the contrast, which is that following an explosion in the streaming market caused by COVID-19, an explosion that Netflix chiefly benefited from, other competitors have caught a second wind. The relative underperformance of original Netflix programming is one major culprit. "Move to Heaven" premiered on the platform this past May 14th to tepid interest, as did "Love Alarm - Season 2" from this past March.

The one undeniable recent hit from Netflix has been "Vincenzo" from Studio Dragon. But quite critically, "Vincenzo" is only a Netflix exclusive internationally. It is available on television in South Korea proper, and "Vincenzo" alone could only do so much to prevent Netflix from losing subscribers. Meanwhile, wavve had "The Penthouse 2" and now has "Taxi Driver" which has quickly supplanted "Vincenzo" with the latter drama's departure from the airwaves.

Yet neither wavve nor TVING are content to rest on domestic television hits alone. As wavve prepares "You Raise Me Up" and "Political Fever" for release later this year, and TVING likewise readies "The Witch's Diner" and "Yumi's Cells" the competition for the streaming market in South Korea is only looking to intensify. Nevertheless, whether truly new productions can compete with those produced in traditional fashion remains unknown.

Written by William Schwartz