If you’re a long-time viewer of Korean dramas, hopefully you’ve overcome the sudden shutdown of Dramafever from back in October 2018 (RIP). Now as we welcome the new year, we are left with only 2 real options to watch K-dramas: Viki and KOCOWA. Yes, there’s Netflix, but “Mr. Sunshine” and “Kingdom” are not a replacement for what was DramaFever as a whole. Not much has been said on whether the dramas/series on Dramafever will resurface, but honestly speaking I don’t think we’ll be seeing them anytime soon (I’ll expand on why later). For now, a quick overview of what we do see!
Viki is one of the OG’s we have come to now and love over the years due to its community style website. It truly has manifested a “for us by us” approach that is apparent in the way it subtitles its content and runs both of its sites; Viki and Soompi. One can say that it was Dramafever’s one and only competition in the K-drama space. For the most part this is true since Viki has always housed all the titles that Dramafever did not have. Specifically, from broadcasters like JTBC, KBS, MBC, and SBS. Dramafever seemed to mainly have TvN and OCN related content (aka CJ).
Interestingly enough, now with Dramafever out of the picture, Viki has started to cherry pick some titles from CJ, although not all. In addition, Viki has also partnered up with the newly made streaming site KOCOWA. This partnership has left Viki in an awkward situation since they no longer fully manage content coming from KBS, MBC and SBS since they are the parents of said “love child” KOCOWA. It was either take it or leave it for someone like Viki who managed almost all of their content.
Now, KOCOWA seems to have some hate due to its “disruption” in what was otherwise a simple system. You were either team Viki or team Dramafever, or both if you could afford it. However, something like this was bound to happen. In the United States there will be an incoming rush of streaming platforms for almost every studio. Believe it or not Sony has Crackle, Hulu has multiple owners, Disney will have Disney+, and Warner Brothers will have Warner Bros. Digital Labs. Fun fact: WB is using the same systems and technology from Dramafever for their Digital Labs.
Trends like these are what brought about KOCOWA to the Americas. KOCOWA’ s main goal is to supply Korean content abroad, which is why they have partnered up with platforms like Viki, OnDemandKorea, and Comcast. It’s only a matter of time before we see KOCOWA partner up with other platforms like Hulu or DirectTV. Currently what they offer is all the content coming from KBS, MBC, and SBS since it is a joint venture made by them, but they also include other programs from smaller companies like MBC Plus. They also have all their content subtitled in English within 24hrs of airing in Korea by the same company that subs for Netflix.Whether the subs are accurate to your individual liking is up to you. So, if you’ve ever sworn off or decided to boycott KOCOWA but still watch content from those three broadcasters, on Viki (Viki Plus), OnDemandKorea, or any other LEGAL website, chances are you’re subscribed in some way to their service and KOCOWA is getting that coin. If you are, have been, or continue to stream illegally, that’s a whole other rant with repercussions that I’m not going to get into…
As of now, Netflix is currently competing with Viki for what’s left between the last standing 2 networks; JTBC and CJ (TvN & OCN). This is why many times you will see them give titles the Viki or Netflix “Original” stamp. However, if the title isn’t deemed “good enough” often times Viki or Netflix won't even bother picking it up and it ends up never airing in the Americas. Hopefully 2019 will be a year where we will see everything calm down.
Rumors have it that CJ might bring their streaming site “TVing” stateside by the end of the year which will house all their content, leaving Viki and Netflix out, or we might see a smaller version of Dramafever return along with the new streaming platform under WB Digital Labs (WarnerMedia) at the end of the year.
