Korean Premium VOD Category Sees Q3 Gains

The premium VOD sector in South Korea showed robust growth in Q3, per new Media Partners Asia (MPA) data, with the addition of 716,000 net new SVOD subs to reach a total of 19 million.

Viewership in the period was up 15 percent quarter on quarter, MPA said, tapping into insights from its AMPD Research platform.

Disney+, Netflix and Tving led growth in the period, according to the Online Video in Korea report. MPA notes that Disney+, in particular, had a “breakthrough” quarter, boosted in part by its hit local original Moving. The streamer ended Q3 with 2 million Korean subs.

Netflix, meanwhile, scored 29 percent of new SVOD subs in Q3 to reach 6.5 million customers, 34 percent of the overall SVOD pie. It also secured 35 percent of premium VOD viewership. Local service Tving also fared well, ending the period with 3.8 million customers, reflecting a 20 percent share of the SVOD market, with Waave at 3 million, a 16 percent share.

Vivek Couto, executive director at MPA, commented, “Deepening engagement across Disney+ and Tving, and robust subscriber growth boosted premium VOD viewership in Korea in Q3 2023. SVOD leaders continue to grow subscribers from strong local content pipelines and an abundance of drama and variety releases; Tving’s popular reality hits tap into large network audiences such as tvN’s Earth Arcade, while Disney+ had its first major original hit with Moving. Tving and Netflix lead in number of exclusive local titles, and along with Wavve, captured 80 percent of Korea’s premium VOD viewership in Q3 2023.”