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About 18 million Americans enjoy K-dramas: Korea Creative Content Agency

November 24, 2014

“Man From Another Star”

About 18 million Americans enjoy K-dramas, according to a recent report by the Korea Creative Content Agency.

KOCCA conducted a web survey spanning two weeks to gather information about people who watch Korean dramas with English subtitles in the United States.

Of the 2,304 people who answered that they have watched a Korean drama with English subtitles at least once, younger Internet users dominated the survey — 35.9 percent were ages 16 to 20, and 22.6 percent were 20 to 25.

Those aged 46 and over followed (10.3 percent), trailed by 26 to 30 (9.9 percent) and 21 to 35 (6.7 percent).

Asian American viewers led the pack with 29 percent, followed by Hispanics (18.9 percent), Africans (9 percent) and Koreans (4.4 percent).

Most K-drama viewers — 87.3 percent of them — used Internet streaming services like DramaFever (55.7 percent), Viki (25.7 percent), Hulu (4.2 percent) and Netflix (1.7 percent) to watch subtitled series.

More than half of responders, 59.2 percent, said they had been watching K-dramas for more than three years, while 28.5 percent said it had been one to three years and 7.4 percent six months to one year.

When it came to genre, a whopping 72 percent of responders chose romantic comedies. Melodrama lovers came in second with 12.9 percent, followed by historical dramas with 6.9 percent and crime or action at 6.6 percent.

Viewers’ favorite dramas reflected American K-drama taste. The top five dramas selected by responders were all romantic comedies: “Boys Over Flowers,” “Man From Another Star,” “Secret Garden,” “Coffee Prince Shop No. 1″ and “Master’s Sun.”

America — and its television producers — have warmed up to the Hallyu craze in recent years, with many even looking to remake K-dramas like “Man From Another Star” for U.S. audiences.

Based on numbers of visitors to popular streaming sites in October, KOCCA estimates that more than 18 million Americans watch K-dramas.

“Through this survey, we proved that long-term fans of K-dramas exist in America,” said Kim Il-joong, head of KOCCA’s U.S. office. “We’re planning on distributing the data to media, academia and other related industries in order to help establish policies and marketing strategies.”

3 Comments

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Kathy

September 30, 2017 at 9:36 PM

Apparently I missed this survey. It was interesting. I don’t fit the average American profile for kdrama watchers. But with over 18 million kdrama viewers, I’m in good company. I’ve been watching kdramas exclusively for about 4 years now (except for the local/national news). I’m European white, retired, over the age of 70. I’ll probably be watching a kdrama while taking my last breath.

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Kathy

September 30, 2017 at 9:41 PM

I recently read American TV plans on remaking The Good Doctor. No American remake will be as good as the Korean original. Even when a kdrama is a remake of a Japanese drama it’s better than the original Japanese. Koreans just do it better.

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