The Rise Of Korean Drama Addiction Squid Game.

The Korean thriller, which tells the story from debt-ridden people vying for big cash prizes in a series of deadly children's games, became Netflix's biggest show to date - racking up 111 million users in its first 28 days. In this way, Bridgerton removed it from the start and made it clear that Korean dramas - K-dramas for short - have received the green light from audiences worldwide.

How can we understand this spike, and what should you look out for in other K-dramas when you are the new envelope? The breakthrough popularity of Squid Game marks the latest wave of the Korean cultural tsunami that has emerged in the west in recent years.

The show joins K-pop artists like BTS and Blackpink, who have become popular in music, and films like Parasite and Minari, earned Hollywood acclaim and Oscar success.

But swallowing K-Drama is not at all a night feeling as it may seem at first glance. Despite recently gaining a global audience.

Increasing liberalization across the country in the 1990s resulted in large sums of money pouring into the entertainment industry. As Japan struggled with the economic downturn and China grew, South Korean culture improved - it offered more television relative to American broadcasts and was morally more comfortable to Beijing.

Over the next decade, Japan's power was challenged to become the new supplier of cool Asians, with 20% of viewers in Japan watching the 2003 drama Winter Sonata.

Global interest is growing as streaming services like Viki and DramaFever have allowed viewers to legally watch Korean content online with English subtitles and have brought K-Drama to new audiences over the past decade. As popularity grew, so did distribution agreements with western news streaming Hulu and Netflix. When Warner Bros. closing DramaFever in 2018, Netflix embarked on further investments.

Slowly, over the next two years, more and more subscribers will be delighted with K-drama, entangled in various storylines and relaxing escapes.

Then came the pandemic, and after the western entertainment industry (literally) shut down, K-drama fever hit. Netflix announced that viewing of Korean content across Asia quadrupled in 2020 compared to 2019.

London-based writer and K-drama fanatic Taylor-Dior Rumble explain, "The most popular K-dramas are usually very stylish, shiny, and untouchable, which is why they are such a great form of escape. "After many dark years, people are turning to more moving forms of entertainment," he said.

There are "a variety of shows that contain lots of quirky ideas and unexpected storylines that you'll likely never get from a British or American broadcaster," ranging from fantasy and science fiction to action and thrillers, says Rumble. A familiar tone underpins this broad appeal. "Almost no nudity or sex," added Rumble. "Korean society is quite conservative, which means many of their shows have intercultural appeal."