Nine Asian titles made it to Netflix’s top 100 TV shows for first half 2024 – down from 11 in the second half of 2023. Korean drama dominated the 2.1 billion viewing hours that the nine attracted during the six months in 2024, taking seven places with one drama each from Japan and India. In 2H 2023, Korean drama reigned with eight titles in the previous six months. The other three were from Japan.

▶ Nine titles from Asia were included in the top 100 shows watched on Netflix in the first half of 2024, ContentAsia’s analysis of the platform’s “What We Watched” engagement report shows.

Seven of the nine titles were from Korea, with one each from Japan and India.

Together, the nine attracted just over 2.1 billion viewing hours (15% share) of the total 13.9 billion hours spent on the top 100 shows.

The top three Asian titles from January to the end of June 2024 were all Korean dramas, led by "Queen of Tears" at #14 with 682.6 million hours viewed/29.2 million views; "Parasyte: The Grey" at #20 with 126.8 million hours viewed/25.4 million views; and Korean romcom "My Demon" at #46 with 311.2 million hours viewed/17.7 million views.

Those were the only three Asian shows in the top 50 of the 6,800+ titles listed.

The other six from Asia on the top 100 included Japanese action thriller, "House of Ninjas" at #56 (112.9 million hours viewed/15.9 million views) and the only Indian title on the top 100 – "Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar" – at #67 with 108 million hours viewed/14.8 million views.

In the first half of 2024, Netflix titles were watched for more than 94 billion hours.

Four of the 10 biggest shows were from the U.K. – "Fool Me Once" (108 million hours), "Baby Reindeer" (88 million hours), "The Gentlemen" (76 million hours) and "One Day" (39 million hours).

Non-English stories – led by Spain’s "Society of the Snow" with 104 million hours – made up nearly a third of all viewing.

▶ Eleven titles from Asia made it to Netflix’s top 100 shows watched in the second half of 2023, according to ContentAsia’s analysis of the streamer’s “What We Watched: A Netflix Engagement Report”.   

The top Asia title was JTBC’s Korean drama, "King The Land", which streamed in Korea on TVing. The series drew 630.2 million hours viewed (33.2 
million views) on Netflix in the second half of 2023.

In second place was kids’ show Bebefinn, part of Korea’s The Pinkfong Company, at #40.

"Mask Girl", produced by BonFactory for Netflix, was #3 at #48 on the top 50, with 127.3 million hours viewed (18.5 million views), followed by 
Korean series "Celebrity" at #49, with 164 million hours viewed (18.3 million views).

The four were the only Asian titles on Netflix’s top 50 for the second half of 2023.

Japanese live action series, "Yu Yu Hakusho", was at #60 with 16.5 million views (69.2 million hours viewed), followed by Korean drama, "My Demon" (14.9 million views/151.8 million hours viewed)

"Squid Game", which remains Netflix top show of all time, was 79th, followed by "Baki Hanma".

The other three Asian titles on the top 100 were "My Happy Marriage' at #89, "Destined With You" at #97 and 'Doona!' at #99.  

Netflix’s non-English TV shows and movies made up nearly a third of all viewing in second half 2023. Korean titles took 9% of non-English-language viewing, following by Spanish (7%) and Japanese (5%). 

The top show globally for second half 2023 was 'One Piece', with 541.9 million hours viewed (71.6 million views).

▶ Published in ContentAsia December 2024 Magazine