How Korean ‘K-drama’ TV created a phenomenon bigger than Squid Game - Polygon

Squid Game didn’t come mysteriously out of the ether

For some Americans, Korean dramas came out of nowhere. Between 2019 and 2021, viewership numbers for TV series produced in South Korea went up a staggering 200% in the U.S. When Squid Game hit Netflix in September 2021, one in four Americans watched it. It wasn’t just a K-drama hit; it became the streamer’s most-watched series of all time . But Squid Game isn’t a total anomaly. The Korean series is one chapter in a larger story with its own name and history: a seismic, ongoing shift in the global entertainment landscape known as Hallyu. The term comes from a Chinese phrase meaning “Korean wave

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