Recently, Heraldcorp published an article highlighting the crisis that the Korean media entertainment industry is facing, as online platforms (OTT) increasingly invest heavily in the cost of producing Korean content.
Industry officials expressed frustration: “We are in the worst situation in the last 10 years due to the influence of Netflix.”
In South Korea, the huge production budgets of international streaming platforms, such as Netflix, have caused a sharp decline in the number of dramas produced by domestic producers. Even famous actors are struggling to find roles, as opportunities have become scarce.
Actress Kim Ha Neul expressed her concern as scripts sent to her are getting fewer and fewer. Meanwhile, actress Go Hyun Jung said that she was unemployed for a while because she did not receive any film offers. She even accepted a pay cut and did not want to play the main role.
The number of Korean dramas produced has dropped significantly, from 135 in 2022 to 125 in 2023, and is likely to drop below 100 in 2024.
Professor Lee Heon Yul of Korea University commented that now that the number of TV dramas has decreased, only a small number of actors selected by online platforms can make money.
However, the news that the actor lost his job because of Netflix received mixed reactions from the Korean public.
Many opinions say that the difficulty in producing TV series is not due to pressure from Netflix's investment, but because the actors' salaries are too high.
"The public thinks that TV production is difficult because actors' salaries are too high, but you say the opposite? Is it Netflix that has increased the fees or are it the actors?"
"What does Netflix have to do with this? If only the main actor would reduce his salary, the problem would be solved."
“Even before Netflix, the majority of film production budgets went toward paying actors.”
"First of all, we should talk about the lowering of the salaries of famous actors. They earn billions of dollars for one appearance, do they really think they are worth that much? Stop blaming Netflix and understand the root of the problem. I think even 100 million won per episode is too much" - some comments from Korean viewers on Naver.
Besides, some other opinions say that reducing the number of TV series is reasonable, because in reality there are many low-quality films being broadcast, wasting money.
One viewer commented: "Sometimes when I watch platforms like TVing, Netflix, and Wavve, I see a lot of mediocre TV dramas. Meanwhile, terrestrial TV channels and cable TV channels are still producing TV dramas. If the number of productions has decreased, how many were produced before?
Instead of wasting time and money on 2-3 low-quality dramas with low viewership and no impact, they should combine those resources to create one good drama.”
In addition, there are opinions that directly relate to the ability of actors. As online platforms develop, opportunities for new faces and young talents will expand.
On the contrary, famous actors who have lost their jobs should review their own abilities. Is their acting good enough to receive invitations from big-budget projects?
