Korean pop culture, in numbers

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Korean titles did not lose the world's Netflix charts. They lost Asia's and gained Latin America's.

Between 2022 and 2025 Korean share fell in all ten Asian markets we track, a mean of 9.68 points, and rose in 68 of the other 83. Japan went from 32.6% to 11.2%, and its distinct Korean titles from 62 to 38.

Korean titles held about 7.7% of the world’s Netflix top 10 places across five years, and that number barely moved. It is the kind of flat line that gets read as “nothing happened”.

Underneath it, almost everything happened. Comparing two whole years — 2022 against 2025, 52 weeks each, 93 markets — Korean share fell in every Asian market we track and rose in 68 of the other 83.

Two groups, opposite directions

Markets Mean change Markets that rose
The ten Asian markets 10 −9.68p 0
Everywhere else 83 +1.31p 68

Not one Asian market went up. Not one.

Where it left

Market 2022 2025 Change Korean places Different titles
Japan 32.6% 11.2% −21.4p 339 → 116 62 → 38
Thailand 30.4% 18.9% −11.5p 316 → 197 65 → 52
Malaysia 31.3% 20.1% −11.2p 325 → 209 60 → 48
Vietnam 34.1% 24.2% −9.9p 355 → 252 66 → 50
Singapore 27.8% 18.3% −9.5p 289 → 190 60 → 49
Indonesia 34.1% 24.9% −9.2p 355 → 259 69 → 51
Hong Kong 27.5% 18.6% −8.9p 286 → 193 63 → 44
Philippines 27.6% 19.3% −8.3p 287 → 201 70 → 49

Japan is the steepest fall anywhere on this site. A third of the chart down to a ninth of it. And the two columns on the right move together: 339 Korean places became 116, and the number of different Korean titles charting fell from 62 to 38. That is not one franchise ending. It is a shelf getting shorter.

Where it went

Market 2022 2025 Change Korean places Different titles
Guatemala 4.2% 10.4% +6.2p 44 → 108 14 → 26
Nicaragua 5.5% 11.6% +6.1p 57 → 121 18 → 27
Venezuela 3.8% 9.9% +6.1p 39 → 103 12 → 29
Ecuador 5.2% 10.6% +5.4p 54 → 110 18 → 25
Colombia 4.2% 9.4% +5.2p 44 → 98 15 → 24
El Salvador 6.1% 11.1% +5.0p 63 → 115 16 → 28
Honduras 6.4% 11.4% +5.0p 67 → 119 19 → 29
Paraguay 3.9% 8.5% +4.6p 41 → 88 14 → 24

Every one of the eight largest gains is in Latin America.

The obvious objection is that these are small bases: going from 4% to 10% is easier than holding 33%. True, and worth saying. But the right-hand column answers the version of that objection that matters — the number of different Korean titles charting roughly doubled in each of them. Venezuela went from 12 Korean titles to 29. This is not one hit repeated; it is a catalogue arriving.

What a share cannot tell you

A share is a ratio, and a ratio can fall two ways. Korean titles may have charted less, or other titles may have pushed them out. A chart position cannot separate those, which is why the place counts and title counts sit beside every share on the table behind this piece.

What we can say is that in Japan both numbers fell together, and in Venezuela both rose together. A pure crowding-out story would move the share without moving the count of distinct Korean titles. That is not what either end looks like.

The flat line was two moving lines

The five-year world figure of 7.7% is correct, and on its own it is close to useless for anyone deciding where to sell. It is the sum of a region losing roughly ten points and eighty-three markets gaining one and a bit — which is a different business in each direction.

All 93 markets, alphabetically, with places and title counts beside every share: where it moved. The five-year figure it sits inside is at world share.

What this does not say: why. Netflix may have commissioned differently, released differently, or audiences may have moved. Chart positions record what held a place, not what caused it — and one place in Guatemala’s top 10 and one in Japan’s are one place each here, which is not the same number of people.

Where these numbers come from

Sources

What we checked

  • Only whole years are compared — our window opens in July 2021 and closes in July 2026, so both partial years are left out of every figure
  • Slots per year are counted from the weeks actually present rather than assumed, because 2023 has 53 weeks and a fixed number would have silently mis-stated one year
  • Every share is printed beside its raw place count and its distinct-title count, so a reader can see whether a falling share came with fewer Korean titles or the same titles losing ground
  • The collector refuses to write its file if any of the ten Asian markets rose, or if the mean change outside them is not positive — the claim would then be untrue and the piece would have to be rewritten

What we left out, and why

  • Any word for why. Chart positions cannot tell us whether Netflix commissioned less, released differently, or audiences moved
  • Viewing. A top 10 is a rank list; a title outside it is invisible here at any level of watching
  • The claim that Korean content declined. World share held near 7.7% across the five years — this piece is about where inside that figure the places sit
  • Russia, whose list Netflix stopped publishing in February 2022
  • Population and subscriber counts. A place in Guatemala's top 10 and a place in Japan's are one place each here, and they are not the same number of people

The data behind this

If you work in this business

Everything on this page is measured from the same weekly Netflix lists, per market and per title. We publish the pages free; what we sell is the same measurement cut to one company's catalogue — including the figures behind /where-it-moved.

What a company sheet contains, and what it cannot tell you →

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