Bringing the world together One Drama at a time: The allure of international streaming media
By Julia Swanson. May 2012.
Reported and written while a graduate student.
What happens when you’ve hate watched all the Reality TV you can stomach and Network television has become de riguer? If you’re anything like Carolyn Rosenweig you’ll just look elsewhere.
Rosenweig isn’t interested in watching television, she explained over a plate of chocolate chip cookies and a cold Corona.
Because of the lack of quality television programming, she doesn’t watch a lot of prime time TV. “I just want to watch good television and most of it is crap like Gossip Girl,” she said explaining that she has repeatedly tried to find shows that interest her but, there’s never anything on when she wants to watch it and she doesn’t want to pay for “good cable.”
She adjusted her glasses and explained how she discovered Korean dramas on Hulu because of the recommendation of a co-worker.
Rosenweig isn’t the only person to make this discovery. In the past few years there has been an explosion of Asian media in North America. Online media hubs like Hulu and Dramafever have been bringing international media into *North America, streaming it directly onto our computers and into our homes. Shows from countries like South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, and a myriad of other countries from around the globe are slowly making a place for themselves in North American homes.
Undaunted by subtitles Rosenweig and her sister set out to find the Korean drama called First Shop of the Coffee Prince, also known as Coffee Prince, online. Initially it was difficult to find and they were only able to watch it on illegal streams with sporadic and at times nonsensical subtitles.
She even toyed with the idea of buying it out of frustration. But on a whim she made one last effort. “I Googled it, found episodes of Coffee Prince on Hulu,” said Rosenweig. “and I was really surprised, I really didn’t think Hulu had stuff from other countries.”
Although, curiosity got her foot in the door once she started watching, she was hooked. Rosenweig and her sister powered through all 17, hour long episodes over the course of a week. She recalled waiting impatiently for the end of the work day when she could race home and watch three or four more episodes back to back, on her laptop, and then spend hours rehashing what she watched with her sister.
Rosenweig cites the attractive leads as a big part of the shows initial appeal, but once she started watching the interesting storyline and incredible pot twists got her hooked. Now, “I almost can’t imagine going back to watching American television,” she said.
None of this surprises Seung Bak the Co-Founder of Dramafever, the company that partnered with Hulu to make Korean dramas like Coffee Prince available to North American audiences. Dramafever, an online streaming media hub that specializes in streaming programming and movies from countries like China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan has been attracting a growing numbers of non-asian viewers since it started streaming Korean dramas, like Coffee Prince, in 2009.
So, what’s the appeal of streaming Korean dramas and foreign media in general? Although part of it can chalked up to fact that they are available to watch for free on both Dramafever and Hulu, that’s only part of the appeal. They are also exotic and also offer a refreshing change from de rigeur network television programming and are an inexpensive alternative to cable.
But, according to Bak it’s actually much simpler than that because people just want to watch good drama and with programs available to stream online viewers are no longer restricted to American television, and have their pick of programs from countries around the world. “It doesn’t matter the language or what the faces look like,” Bak said, “Good drama is good drama.”
With 100,000 episodes online and more than 1.5 million monthly unique viewers using Dramafever, it would seem Bak is right.
Dramafever is the fastest growing media hub, of its kind, specializing in streaming content into North America from South Korea, Japan, China and Taiwan. Available across platforms, it is accesible on computers, mobile phones and tablets and features 100’s of television series that are available for free, or as a subscription service. With 100 percent of its current content streaming into North America from Asia, Dramafever is geared to non-asian viewers who are interested in engaging with new international content, and according to a press release make up 75 percent of its regular audience.
The partnership between Hulu and Dramafever that started in May 2010 brought shows like Coffee Prince, Boys Before Flowers, My Lovely Sam Soon, and Queen Seon Duk to mainstream America. Already some of the most successful Korean dramas at the time, they were among the first Korean dramas made available through a partnership forged between Dramafever and Hulu.
But, Korean dramas aren’t the only thing Dramafever and Hulu have to offer. With 400 titles Dramafever’s catalogue includes feature films, news and educational programming, and music videos from a number of different Asian countries. v
Hulu, now has a channel dedicated specifically to Korean dramas with more than 150 dramas streaming through their partnership with Dramafever along with other streaming media sources. Hulu also taps into the international streaming media market with separate channels for Japanese Anime, and Latin American and Dramas from the United Kingdom
But for Bak the bottom line is simple, if the stories are good people will keep coming back for more and providing streaming content for free, is just an added incentive.
Some of their currently airing streaming shows are programs like Faith, Bridal Mask, Athena, and Arang and the Magistrate who’s cross over appeal can be attributed to their mixture of attractive stars, exciting story lines, and a high production value that can rival that of any American network television show.
While there is an exotic and intellectual appeal to international programming, what it all boils down to is that no matter what language, people like watching good drama.
“The stories look great, the shows have global themes, and story lines are comparable with other drama outlets like telenovelas, and they’re uplifting in general,” Bak said
Rosenweig likes the fact that by watching shows online she can watch whatever she wants, whenever she wants to, and for now it’s free. She’s not just watching Korean dramas on Hulu anymore, she’s also watching currently airing American programs and movies on Netflix. She can tune in to shows shows like Parks and Recreation and Archer on her laptop while eating dinner, or from the comfort of her bed and she feels she enjoys the experience more because she is able to watch the shows on her own terms.
She admits she is perfectly happy to come home and watch a few hours of television, a day on Hulu instead of wasting her time trying to find something “that sucks” to watch on network television or having to go back out to rent a video.
Now she can stream all of her television programming directly onto her computer and it’s just easier that way.
For Rosenweig watching Korean dramas on Hulu has done more than provide free entertainment. It opened her eyes to a world that she knew of but had no connection to. “Now, I find myself not just interested in Korea, but in the people,” she said, “I want to know more about them.”
Bak believes that this is one of the fundamental attractions of foreign dramas, and part of the long term appeal of not just Korean dramas but international programming to North American audiences. “It allows people to communicate with people in other part of the world through the media,” he said.
Exposure to popular international media in the United States has always been somewhat limited. Although Japanese anime, Telenovelas and Bollywood films are well established markets outside of the United States, as niche markets within the United States they still struggled to find a mainstream audience. But everything changed with the advent of YouTube in 2005.
YouTube was an easy, and free, way for anyone with internet access and a computer to watch short form videos online. The video sharing platform allowed its users to access videos that had been posted to YouTube from anywhere in the world by streaming it directly onto their home computers. Users could create their own channels of content out of videos posted on YouTube, and by uploading videos to YouTube them self.
People use YouTube like a DVR, explained Matt McLernon a public relations representative from YouTube, they build a collection of channels, of programs to watch whenever it’s convenient. It’s just like watching television On Demand.
“You might see things that might not have the economics to be on TV but they can make it on the web,” McLernon said in a short phone interview.
With viewers in the drivers seat for the first time, people flocked to their computers to watch videos like the Tow Chinese Boys spoof on the Backstreet Boys, “I want it that way,” and the “Evolution of Dance,” which became overnight YouTube sensations generating the millions of hits that helped start the migration. By July of 2006 Youtube was receiving more than 100 million views per day and growing at a rate of 65,000 daily video uploads, according to the statistics on their website.
But YouTube users were doing more than just programming their own channels they also became “content creators” uploading thousands of videos per day and creating content like the web series The Guild whose first season broadcast on YouTube in 2007. Now in its 6th season The Guild has more than 300 hundred thousand subscribers on it’ s YouTube channel and more than 81 million video views.
While sites like YouTube were busy making short form entertainment accessible world wide, Hulu launched its streaming media hub in 2007 and Netflix launched a streaming service in 2009.
Netflix’s which enabled viewers to stream full length feature films onto a home computer expanded its inventory to include a wider selection of international films. Through partnerships with X-Box, Blu-Ray, Apple Computers, and Sony Playstations Netflix subscribers were able to stream programming directly onto their television and internet capable devices. Movies like Park Chan Wook's vengeance trilogy (The Lady Vengeance, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Oldboy) which already had a cult following in America, The Good the Bad and The Weird and The Man From No Where were available to Netflix subscribers through their stream service along with a small selection of previously aired popular Korean dramas, like My Lovely Sam Soon and Boys before Flowers.
“Netflix is more a complement to traditional television than competition,” said Joris Evers the Director of Corporate Communications at Netflix, “many people have Netflix as a compliment to their other consumer options.”
For the average viewer Hulu offered a legal and initially free way to watch popular programs like Lost, CSI, and Dangerous Housewives for free, just a day or two after airing which earned it a reputation as the place to go for the latest episodes of the hottest television shows.
Audiences migrated quickly towards the streaming media as Hulu, Netflix, YouTube and Dramfever became more interactive quickly rolling out Apps and features like Hulu’s Facebook feed integration and making streaming available on mobile devices.
By 2010 streaming media was everywhere, on televisions, laptops, gaming consoles, mobile phones and tablets.
With the growing ubiquity of streaming media, genres that had once been considered niche markets became an appealing addition to burgeoning online streaming media hubs and companies like Viki.com were able to help bridge the gap between North American viewers and international programming by helping stream international media stream into North America.
Viki, a global streaming media hub is the largest company of its kind and has been streaming media from more than 100 countries since 2008. A free service, Viki makes it possible to stream programs and movies from around the globe not just South Korea although South Korea is still one of its biggest draws.
“Part of the appeal is entertainment value. Countries like China, Japan and Korea have a long history of quality productions, and quality is universal,” said Tammy Nam the North American General Manager for Viki.com.
Viki, is one part online media hub and one part social network. The free website distinguishes its self with the breadth of it’s inventory and the way it capitalizes on the enthusiasm of it’s users to provide subtitling in over 150 languages through a wikipedia style system that encourages interaction and growth in the online community.
Although the largest content contributors on Viki.com are from South Korea, Viki also carries programming from other international media hot spots like India, Indonesia, Colombia and the United Kingdom.
But, streaming media has done more than just change the way we watch traditional television, it’s also change the television production model.
“Online global platforms have changed the way we broadcast, license and produce programs,” said Tammy Nam, the North American General Manager for Viki Inc According to, Ms. Nam, the future of online streaming is not just about finding new quality content, but also about, securing global cross platform licensing agreements, and producing content of their own.
Viki has also moved into production, with the completion its first original series Naughty Kiss, in 2010, a follow up to the romantic comedy, Playful Kiss, which aired in 2009. Naughty Kiss, was a follow up to the romantic comedy series and produced in partnership with YouTube and the Munhwa Broadcasting System in South Korea. “Naughty Kiss” was, “a huge success,” said Ms. Nam and has had more than 18 million hits on YouTube since it aired in 2010.
This is a success that Viki is very excited to repeat in the near future. But, for the time being the focus is still on expanding their user base, and licensing more content for the newest section of their website, Anime.
Viki is not alone. As the Worlds economies becomes more intertwined media production companies are going to be forced to understand their viewers as both media connoisseurs and potential markets, crossing over into content production will just be another way for them to respond to their audiences needs by creating what they want. Hulu’s “A Day in the Life,” and “Battleground,” series, that aired in 2012 and their partnership with the BBC to co-produce a fourth season of “The Thick of It" all points outward as Netflix moves further into production with season 4 of the series, “Arrested Development,” and it’s recently released original series, “Lilyhammer.”
The future of online media is an interactive one and the social component of these platforms is now more important than ever with platform integration as well as community and connectivity crucial for its widespread appeal. Not just with Facebook but with everything, giving the ability of the user to “like” or “dislike” shows, rate content, or even create captions and then to be seen doing so by their friends.
As media production shifts into the hands of new media producers bypassing the old production models and streaming directly on to our portable devices and into our homes access to streaming media in homes across in North America will continue to grow. With all these options there will be no clear winner, but winners. The companies who come out ahead will be the companies that understand that this is a global market, developing in response to the waves of migration happening on a global scale.
This is the kind of technology is game gaming and perhaps what’s more amazing than the incredible production quality, engaging storylines, good looking actors, and the fact that you can stream media directly onto your phone during your lunch break, is that good drama has the ability to transcend distance, language and culture in a way that many other modes of communication can’t.
*In this context North America refers to Canada and the United States. Mexico does not currently have access to Hulu
*2 A unique viewer is a one unique visitor to a website