Reports reveal Netflix has invested 770 billion in producing K-content

Article: Netflix, who poured 770 billion won into Korea, lined up with producers... 'Content Black Hole' Rapidly Rising

Source: Hankyung

Article reveals that 5 years after Netflix started it's first service in Korea in January 7, 2016, they have gained 3.62 million paying subscribers, a 45x increase from 80,000 users in its first year.

Also, because of major changes in the domestic content industry, the impact of K-contents is different than before as Korean content is gaining popularity around the world apart from just Asia. Netflix has invested 770 billion won in producing K-content and last year alone, they invested 331 billion won, a 34.3 % increase from the prior year. In total, Netflix has supplied 4,536 works in Korea as of the 11th. 

Among Netflix popular works are 'Crash Landing on You' that ranked first place on Netflix Japan last year, 'Kingdom' that sparked a K-zombie craze in the US and Europe and 'Sweet Home' that ranked 3rd in Netflix world ranking immediately after its release.

Because Netflix supports large-scale production costs and there are no restrictions on materials or expression, producers can create a variety of content without any restrictions.

Netflix plans to introduce 'Seungri-ho' that cost 20 billion won to produce next month on the 5th. 

1. [+4,179, -56] I think this is for the better...I watched tvN drama 'True Beauty' recently and noticed that because they received a lot of Chinese money there was so much ppl from Chinese companies thrown in without any warning. In the drama, kids went out to eat hot pot at a convenience store, which is just ridiculous on its own, and there was an ad in Chinese at the bus stop...? It seriously ruined the drama for me and turned me off. This made me realize how important it is for a drama to receiving the "right" type of investment from places like Netflix so that they can produce high quality content for viewers.
2. [+1,808, -26] Looking at 'Kingdom' you can tell a huge amount of money was invested but it made me wonder how it was produced in Korea. They were initially cheated out of production money so they would've had to cut costs and the plots would've gone to the mountain but looks like Netflix jumped in and saved it.
3. [+677, -53] Netflix is lacking in shows for me to watch though..
4. [+384, -25] I think there's always going to be limited content to watch. I've been alternating between subscribing to Netflix and Disney in a month or two once I run out of things to watch.
5. [+134, -5] Older media companies like KBS, MBC, and SBS have been so dismissive about making any changes so there's no representative dramas to watch anymore. News has long lost its objectivity because everything has fallen into one political ideology so all I seem to do nowadays is re-watch their past dramas.
6. [+82, -3] The best scripted dramas right now are from 1. Netflix 2. CJ and 3. JTBC . Those that don't get selected go to top 3 cable companies (kbs, mbc, sbs) and the rest get evenly handed out to other broadcasters. Because they all invest in low-quality dramas there's nothing competitive in their platforms anymore but latecomers like JTBC and CJ have been going out and pouring their money into getting good scripts. That's why OTT overseas content is so competitive right now because their original content is so good.
7. [+73, -2] I'm glad companies like Netflix are investing to avoid taking in Chinese money.
8. [+68, -12] Both 'Sweet Home' and 'Kingdom' were fun to watch but I was honestly shocked about big of a powerhouse 'Game of Thrones' was. It was creepy because it felt like a starting point for a cultural empire.
9. [+42, -1] Netflix spends like their production expenses on actual production but broadcasters like sbs, mbc, and kbs spend all their money on the PD. That why all their dramas are flops.
10. [+16, -1] CJ needs to see this...Please stop broadcasting dramas with Chinese ppl and hot pot commercials just because the Chinese threw money at you.