K-Entertainment has been taking over the global stage in recent years, and it’s no surprise why. With K-pop leading the charge and Korean dramas gaining massive traction worldwide, everyone has become hooked on everything Korean culture has to offer. From the addictive storytelling to the impressive talent, there’s something about K-Entertainment that resonates with audiences everywhere.
Rakuten Viki has played a huge role in making that connection happen. As one of the top streaming platforms for Asian content, Viki has made it easier than ever to access a wide range of K-dramas, variety shows, and films. By offering high-quality translations and fan-driven subtitling, Viki has bridged language barriers, allowing international fans to enjoy their favorite K-Entertainment with ease. It’s become a go-to platform for K-drama lovers around the world, and the growing fanbase speaks for itself.
To dive deeper into how Viki is shaping the future of K-Entertainment, I had the chance to chat with Karen Paek, an accomplished marketing executive and vice president of marketing at Rakuten Viki. In our conversation, Karen shared her thoughts on the rise of K-Entertainment, how Viki fits into that journey, and some recommendations for anyone who wants to dip their feet into the immersive world of K-Entertainment.
Let’s dive right into that interview!
Q: How has the global demand for Asian content changed since Viki first launched?
Karen: “So Viki’s been around for like 15 plus years. It started out as a grad school project back in 2007. A few years later it finally launched, and the whole purpose was to really just make foreign content accessible. But during that time the company had found that what was really getting traction was Korean/Asian content. Since then the company really started doubling down and focusing on making Viki that leading destination for Asian entertainment, which is why you see this vast kind of diverse catalog on our platform. So from then to now, the popularity has skyrocketed. I think many of the more competitive global streamers didn’t really start entering the mix until maybe five or so years ago. So I think that’s just a testament to them, seeing that this is an opportunity to bring new and highly engaged viewers, where they do have a fandom and they’re able to share their love for this type of content. It has definitely been a fast-pace kind of ride in the last few years. And I think it initially spread internationally across Asia. Korean content was really growing more, I think, in Japan and the East Asian region. Now, it’s really globalized to pretty much every continent and country.”
Q: What’s an example of a drama that unexpectedly gained traction outside of its target audience?
Karen: “There was a drama earlier this year called ‘Love Scout.’ That drama was actually one of our top performers this year. I think it was a surprise just because it had some of the classic themes like office romance, but we didn’t necessarily expect it to be so huge of a hit because it wasn’t a typical rom-com. It was more of a serious drama. It’s about a woman who is kind of like a workaholic CEO, and she falls in love with her secretary who is a single father, but very gentle, doting, and very warm. It had a little bit of what they would call an ‘older cast.’ But I think people really just embraced it, and took to it because it had such a solid storyline and really great acting.”
Q: How does Viki engage with longtime subscribers while also appealing to first-time viewers?
Karen: “I think some of our long-time subscribers have been around for almost ten years now. I think our subscription offering launched around 2015. So what we see is those preferences from that subscriber base changing over time and evolving, because I think people enter different phases in their life. They might start coming in through a well known drama, whether it be like ‘Boys Over Flowers’ from like 2009 or ‘The Heirs,’ just basically something that’s considered kind of like a classic in the K-drama world. They go through different phases in life and I think their preferences evolve, and then they’re exposed to a lot of different genres. Whether that be variety shows or short-form content. We also have a lot of Chinese dramas on Viki as well. So, I think it’s really important for us to be able to showcase the depth of the catalog that Viki carries. We have over 2,000 shows on the service. So for those long time subscribers it’s really about continuing to be able to license the on-air shows that are going to be interesting to them, and offering new on-air shows that are in a diverse range of genres. For new users, it’s really about exposing them to those shows that people are really excited about, and talking about, and making sure the word gets out about those shows being available exclusively on Viki.”
Q: How do you balance promoting new and exclusive content while also highlighting older, classic dramas?
Karen: “In the past, we’ve actually done a couple of (what we call) evergreen campaigns where we kind of resurface the hidden gems that live within Viki. From a marketing standpoint, we definitely want to generate buzz, and let people know that there’s a new show coming out. We promote it through all of the different avenues of marketing available, especially through social media, our influencers that we work with, and paid media channels. We get a lot of press around the new shows. We definitely find moments still to connect back to the classic shows available on the platform. So you will see even on our social media, ever so often clips will resurface as they relate to either a new show we have now that has the same actor, or maybe some sort of trending moment that’s happening where we feel like this is such an iconic or perfect scene (for example: ‘Strong Women Doo Bong Soon’). We would say we do that in conjunction with the campaigns that we have going sometimes that are really trying to evoke that feeling of nostalgia for some of the more well known evergreen titles that we have here.”
Q: Have fan-driven trends (such as TikTok edits or Twitter discussions) influenced how you market a show?
Karen: “We do really try to listen to what the fans are saying and the comments. We do track user-generated content, so we actually see quite an impressive number of impressions every week in terms of user-generated content, whether it be reshares of things that we organically post on social reshares of creators we work with posting, or even people doing their own fan edits from scenes. Some of the creators who make fan edits will also tag us, so we do track that on a regular basis and then we see from there what are the aspects of the show that people are excited about and why they love the show. So I mentioned earlier the surprise popularity of ‘Love Scout’ from earlier this year, and we were very curious about what it is about the show in particular that is getting people really hooked on it. What we found through the comments, and what people were sharing is that people really embraced the male lead character in this role because he didn’t portray that kind of ‘tough on the outside soft on the inside’ type of male lead. But he was her secretary, he did work for her, but he was very gentle and very sweet. He was very thoughtful, and in particular there’s a scene that I particularly love that we posted on social media that performed well, in which she’s known to be kind of clumsy and she kept bumping into things in her office, so he then stayed up late at the office and corner guarded the spots where she would normally trip. I think there was kind of like that thoughtfulness, and warmth, and gentleness of that male character that people seem to really like about the show. And that was just one component of it. But because we knew that, we were able to kind of emphasize that aspect of the show as we were picking the clips, and we wanted to present the appeal of the show to audiences.”
Q: If you had to market a K-drama using only three words, what would be your best tagline?
Karen: “K-drama is magic.”
Q: If Viki could do a real-life activation event at SXSW in the future for a drama (like a themed pop-up café or an escape room), which drama would be the most fun to bring to life?
Karen: “I would love to bring to you something that was based off of a Webtoon. Just because I think then you can merge those two worlds together. Because Webtoon is more an illustration, which can have more fantastical elements to them, so it would be fun to be able to take those kinds of visuals that are a more the fun kind of cartoon, and bring them into real life. But if I had to pick one, just because last year it was such a big hit, and was so fun and also integrated aspects of K-pop, I would choose ‘Lovely Runner.’”
Q: If you had to explain Viki to someone who’s never heard of K-dramas, what’s your go-to “elevator pitch?”
Karen: “So for somebody who has never heard of K-dramas, I would say that Viki is your go-to destination for not just Korean, but all Asian entertainment, available globally to be consumed with different models such as subscription and ad-free. If you don’t want to commit just yet, you have the ability to watch the majority of our catalog for free. We do have probably one of the most diverse catalogs of content, so there’s really something for everybody.”
Q: If you had to build the ultimate K-drama starter pack, which three dramas would be in it?
Karen: “I’m going to go with 1) ‘Descendants of the Sun’: because I feel like that’s a really popular gateway drama, and it has a big production value — an intense romance that’s kind of epic. It also takes place not just in Korea, but even outside Korean borders.
2) ‘Father is Strange”‘: if you’re looking for family dramas that are not just about a couple’s romance, but are based around stories with all their family members, and people in their neighborhood.
3) ‘Study Group’ : if you’re looking for an action comedy.”
As K-Entertainment continues to take over worldwide, Rakuten Viki is right there in the mix, helping to add to the growth and spread of Korean content. The platform’s ability to connect international audiences with the stories, shows, and talent they love is something that can’t be overlooked. With more people tuning in every day, it’s clear that Viki is adapting to keep up with the demand, expanding its offerings, and finding new ways to engage fans around the world.
After speaking with Karen Paek, it’s obvious that Rakuten Viki isn’t slowing down any time soon. With a growing fanbase and a constantly shifting entertainment world, Viki’s approach is one that’s both forward-thinking, and incredibly in tune with the global rise of K-Entertainment. It’ll be exciting to see where they take it next as the platform continues to lead the charge in connecting cultures through the power of storytelling.