Netflix has marked a decade in South Korea by highlighting the global rise of Korean content, its growing investment in local creative talent and the economic impact of productions made in the country. The streaming platform said Korean titles have become its most-watched non-English content worldwide.

Netflix, in a statement late last week, said more than 80 percent of its global members have watched Korean programming as it unveiled upcoming projects and celebrated its anniversary with fans, actors and creators in Seoul in a two-day event.

The anniversary celebrations were held through ‘Netflix Janchi’, a fan festival organised on October 24-25 and attended by Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, who reaffirmed the company’s commitment to the Korean entertainment industry.

The event also offered a first look at upcoming titles, including ‘Possible Love’, ‘Tantara’, ‘All of Us Are Dead’ Season 2 and ‘Solo Leveling’.

“For Netflix, Korea is more than a market. It is where we discovered new possibilities, and where we learned how far a story can travel,” Sarandos said, describing South Korea as one of the platform’s most valued partners for the future.

The platform’s figures underline the international reach of Korean storytelling. Since Netflix began tracking its Global Top 10 in June 2021, more than 200 Korean titles have featured on the list.

The first season of ‘Squid Game’ holds the record for the longest run, with 32 consecutive weeks in the ranking, including nine weeks at number one. ‘Teach You a Lesson’ has become Netflix’s second most-watched Korean show, behind only ‘Squid Game’.

Korean content accumulated more than 12 billion viewing hours on the platform between April 2025 and March 2026, ranking second only to US-produced content by country of origin.

Netflix also highlighted the opportunities created for emerging Korean talent. More than one-third of its Korean titles released between 2024 and 2026 were made by first-time directors or writers.

Director Park Yoon-seo, who previously worked as an assistant director on ‘Kingdom: Season 2’, made his directorial debut with the young-adult horror series ‘If Wishes Could Kill’.

Meanwhile, Baek Seung-min, who started as a second assistant on the lighting team for ‘Kingdom’, has become the lighting director for the second season of ‘All of Us Are Dead’.

The company said its Korean productions have also generated substantial employment and business activity. Between 2016 and 2025, Netflix worked with more than 80 production companies in South Korea.

Productions made or co-produced during the period involved more than 25,000 cast and crew members, in addition to 70,000 extras and day hires.

The series ‘When Life Gives You Tangerines’ alone engaged nearly 4,000 vendors and 600 cast and crew members, contributing more than 90 billion won to the Korean economy.

The influence of Korean content has extended beyond streaming to tourism, food and language learning. Netflix said 72 percent of members who watched Korean content were far more likely to express a desire to visit South Korea.

Jeju received about 2.24 million foreign visitors in 2025, its highest number in nine years, while visits to Gimnyeong Beach, a filming location for ‘When Life Gives You Tangerines’, increased by about 96 percent.

Sales at chef Choi Hyun-seok’s restaurant CHOI rose 300 percent after Season 1 of ‘Culinary Class Wars’, while reservations at restaurants run by other contestants increased 303 percent after Season 2.

New Korean learners on Duolingo in the US rose 37 percent during the release week of ‘Squid Game’ Season 3, while applications for South Korea’s TOPIK proficiency exam exceeded 550,000 in September 2025, surpassing the total for all of 2024.

Netflix said it now works with 122 localisation partners worldwide, including 119 dubbing studios to make Korean titles accessible to audiences across languages.