Overseas Viewers Rank Korean Content Third Most Watched

Announcement of Overseas OTT Usage Behavior and Market Research Results

The Korea Communications Commission announced the results of the "2023 Overseas Online Video Service (OTT) Usage Behavior and Market Survey" on the 22nd.

This year, the usage behavior survey was conducted targeting the UK, Japan, Mexico, and Brazil, while the market survey was conducted targeting Taiwan, Japan, Indonesia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

[Image source=Pixabay]

In all surveyed countries, Korean content (K-content) was found to be the third most viewed after domestic content and U.S. content.

In the UK, the paid OTT usage rate (70%) is high, indicating a culture accustomed to watching content through OTT, and the average number of subscriptions (4.1) is also high. The OTT market is analyzed to be virtually saturated. The rates of watching alone (49.8%) and watching with family (44.6%) were similar.

Japan showed relatively low paid OTT usage (37.8%) and average subscriptions (2.4). Most respondents watch OTT alone (70.2%), and once subscribed, there are few cases of cancellation or switching (cancellation rate 54.9%), indicating a low likelihood of switching to other OTT services.

In Mexico, 71.2% responded that they watch OTT with family, and Brazil showed similar tendencies. This viewing behavior leads to a preference for family-themed content such as "telenovelas" (daily soap operas produced in Latin America and Spain), which is expected to help K-content expand into Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America.

Taiwan and Indonesia watch K-content more than their domestic content and have a positive perception of Korean culture overall, including K-pop and other K-content. Taiwan, with its high purchasing power, shows low price resistance to OTT subscriptions, and combined with the demand to quickly watch the latest K-content, has a high rate of illegal content use through paid circumvention services (81.1%). The Taiwanese government supports local content production and marketing costs through OTT support policies, suggesting that market entry through strategies addressing illegal content is possible.

In Japan, due to a pragmatic tendency, the low-cost OTT Amazon Prime holds a 43.2% market share, higher than Netflix (19.1%). Preferences for domestic animation content and popular novel and webtoon-based content suggest that entry into the Japanese market through various bundled services (K-content, webtoons, etc.) will be effective.

Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country with an average age of 29.7 years, is expected to have high potential for OTT industry development. Due to low purchasing power, free viewing is preferred, and market entry through advertising-based pricing plans as a strategy to counter illegal content use is considered highly feasible.

The UAE prefers content from culturally similar countries such as T?rkiye and India and is sensitive to content with religious issues. In particular, it suggested the possibility of market entry through media-related free zones (100% foreign ownership, tax benefits, etc.) that offer benefits for foreign investment.

Domestic OTT operators stated, "The timely information on changes in overseas OTT users' usage behavior as well as legal regulations and support policies was helpful," and added, "We plan to utilize this for various overseas expansion strategies, including platform entry and original content expansion."