Comment: Why international content is key for streaming

When Parasite won an Oscar in 2020, its director, Bong Joon Ho, had an important message for audiences at home: “Once you overcome the one-inch tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films”.

Five years later, the second series of Netflix’s Squid Game has broken Netflix records, hitting 490 million hours of viewing time globally in its first week, continuing the legacy of a franchise valued at $900 million after its debut. Meanwhile Spanish dramas Money Heist and Elite have also caught the eye of millions of global viewers. While these are TV series, rather than films, it’s easy to see that Bong had predicted a significant, and lucrative, trend in western audiences.

The appetite for international content is undeniable: over half (54%) of English-speaking internet users claim to watch non-English language content. Although Bong was proven right, I believe he overlooked one key point. The barrier wasn’t just language—it was access.

In the last half decade, CTV has provided billions of engaged viewers with access to the very best of content, no matter where it’s from, reflecting the increasingly interconnected and international world we all live in.

The Korean Wave

Although audiences are opening up to all kinds of foreign-language content, it would be remiss to ignore one of the most popular drivers - K-content. CTV has played a significant role in amplifying the ‘Korean Wave,’ the global rise in popularity and influence of Korean cultural exports.

From its noodles to its pop idols, Korea is influencing all parts of Europe, and conjuring an impressive spending power. Kantar data predicts that the global spend on these products is set to hit a whopping $143bn by 2030, almost twice as much as is spent today. Korean culture is no longer even a lucrative niche, it’s fast becoming a mainstream interest for millions of consumers.

And Netflix’s game-changing Squid Game series is proof that the world of CTV can capitalise on and drive these cultural shifts, for content providers and for the brands that can appear authentically alongside it. A study from the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange last year found that UK audiences clocked up the highest viewing time for Korean entertainment online at 11.7 hours per month, outpacing the US, Germany, Spain, Italy and France.

Squid Game has not only dominated the festive peak, its Boxing Day launch saw the show bring countless brands into the spotlight on the standout day of the year for TV viewership, when our own Samsung Ads TV data shows audiences watch 25% more television than during the rest of December.

But while subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) expands its catalogues of international content to paying customers, this alone will not drive the movement towards international content becoming mainstream.

The need to move FAST

As the Korean Wave takes hold, it brings with it a dual opportunity for all in the CTV ecosystem. Content providers have a chance to expand and diversify their offerings, capturing new subscribers and fans with successful acquisitions. But brands and advertisers have a chance to tap into a dynamic and influential cultural movement through a trusted medium - television.

Our job now is to connect fans with the content they love, or may soon love, if made easily accessible to them. Free ad-supported TV (FAST) can play a critical role here, offering dedicated channels that meet fans where they are in a lean-back environment. They also offer a powerful opportunity for brands and advertisers to harness this fan power, appearing directly next to viewers’ favourite content.

We recently launched K-Pop by CJ ENM, a free streaming channel packed with music videos, concert footage, and interviews with K-Pop’s biggest stars. Across Europe, K-pop fans are increasingly digitally native, clocking up an average of 86 minutes of streaming each day according to GWI Core’s 2024 Zeitgeist report. And British fans top the list, streaming 115 minutes per day. This movement resonates with diverse audiences across Europe, an audience which is open to discovery, and to spending money on the products that can catch their eye.

By investing in fresh and foreign entertainment, content publishers are tapping into a fast-growing market. But this phenomenon is also changing CTV for the better. As viewers seek content from around the world, our industry is finally fulfilling the promise of connected television - bringing truly borderless entertainment to the home.

Alex Hole is EMEA SVP and general manager at Samsung