Previously, the television shows available to Americans were almost all created in the United States. Popular shows from other nations, even those that spoke English, were rarely broadcast in the United States, and when they were, it was only on PBS. But it has begun to change in recent years. Every day, new British, Canadian, and Australian series emerge, while websites like Hulu bring in non-English entertainment (like Hatufim, the Israeli show that served as inspiration for Homeland).
Then there's DramaFever, an internet video streaming service that focuses on Asian TV shows and films. Since its inception in 2009, DramaFever has grown to become one of the most prominent distributors of international material in the United States.
From 2012 to 2013, DF claims that its total monthly unique viewers quadrupled, rising from 2.5 million to 10 million, thanks to syndication partners including Hulu and YouTube. And it's still growing, with a population of 20 million people.
According to Ad Week, big brands have taken notice of the quick development. On DramaFever, Toyota, AT&T, Verizon, and Samsung have all sponsored advertising. The site's material is available in more locations than ever before, and it's gone beyond Asian television: it's partnered with Hulu, AMC, and YouTube, and in December 2012, it started streaming Telemundo programming.
Suk Park and Seung Bak, co-founders of DramaFever, weren't expecting things to take off as quickly as they did when they started with just four people. "We imagined our audience would be Korean-American when we started five years ago," Park told me over the phone. "However, we couldn't have been more mistaken."
Korean dramas are extremely popular among non-Asians.
Indeed, according to Park, 85 percent of DramaFever's audience is non-Asian, with 45 percent Caucasian and 25 percent Latino. "All ethnicities are seeking out foreign entertainment," Park told me, because it "speaks to them more than... traditional television."
DramaFever has a vast library of content, but it is best recognized for its Korean dramas, or K-dramas as they are more commonly called. Of course, K-dramas differ in theme and setting, but they always have one thing in common: each series is self-contained — that is, it lasts one season and tells a complete tale — and it usually revolves around a chaste romance. In fact, the first kiss usually occurs seven or eight episodes into the story, which typically has 16 to 20 episodes. "In K-dramas, the focus is on relationships," Park remarked. "Not so much sex as the effort of true lovers to make romance a reality."
Consider DF's new drama Blade Man, which depicts the love story of a computer game CEO and a game designer. It sounds like a conventional meet cute scenario until you learn that the rich CEO, played by Korean star Lee Dong-Wook, suffers from a condition that causes his wrath to materialize as literal blades emerging from his body. Then there's My Love From The Star, a film about a famous actress who falls in love with a 400-year-old alien, which is being remade by the American network ABC. In a few weeks, DF will debut Servant, a remake of Sex and the City set during the Chosun Dynasty in Korea, according to the streaming service.
Park acknowledges that the material of DramaFever departs from what Western audiences are accustomed to. But it's possible that's why his service is so popular. According to Park, Millennials, who make up the majority of DF's audience, believe it is crucial to learn about cultural narratives other than their own. Park believes that television, as a "engine of empathy," is one method to open up and explore new storylines. He claims that "entertainment is a conduit to civilization."
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