[Photo by Yun Kyung-jin ]
SEOUL -- Netflix has consolidated its dominant position in South Korea, garnering greater support from users who remained unaffected by a desperate campaign by competitors to check the world's top video content streaming service in a rapidly growing video content streaming market.
Wiseapp, a South Korean smartphone app service market research company, said Tuesday that Netflix has 1.84 million subscribed users as of June this year, up 192 percent from a year ago.
Original contents, including dramas and movies tailored to match over-the-top (OTT) video-on-demand service users in South Korea, have contributed to a sharp increase in the number of Netflix fans. Netflix has aggressively added a lineup of South Korean blockbuster drams such as "Mister Sunshine", "Kingdom" and "Arthdal Chronicles" to attract young viewers.
"Netflix has pinpointed the lifestyle of content consumers in their 20s and 30s. Many OTT users consume video content on the go in buses and subways using smartphones. They prefer to use Netflix because of its wide range of content including hit TV dramas and movies," Kim Kyo-seok, a pop-culture critic, told Aju News.
Kim said the American OTT service still has huge potential to grow in South Korea where super-fast mobile networks, ideal for high-definition video streaming, are established.
To stop Netflix's dominance in South Korea's thriving OTT market, local service operators including internet protocol TV (IPTV) and OTT operators have teamed up to combine their services to attract young content consumers.
In March, SK Telecom, South Korea's top mobile carrier, started working with three major domestic broadcasters to merge its OTT service Oksusu and POOQ, an OTT service operated by broadcasters, to check Netflix. Oksusu is popular among young people for its exclusive e-sports content while POOQ provides a variety of unique services such as virtual reality-based video content.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
