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[Herald Economy=Reporter Park Se-jung] Subscribers blasted Disney+ with comments like “There’s nothing to watch” and “You should just leave Korea,” and the service sank to last place. Now, Disney+ is trying to win viewers back by leaning into higher‑maturity, 19+ programming.
Once promoted as a rival to Netflix, Disney+ endured a string of costly flops and nearly vanished from South Korea’s streaming market. Monthly active users fell to roughly 2 million, dropping the platform to the bottom of the rankings.
Recently, though, Korean originals — including several adult‑rated titles — have drawn praise and helped reverse that slide, lifting subscriber numbers.
On May 9, FlixPatrol, which tracks global streaming viewership, reported that Goldland not only reached No. 1 overall on Disney+ Korea but also climbed KinoLights’ daily trend chart and Fundex’s drama buzz rankings, keeping the series in the headlines.
Goldland follows customs officer Kim Hee‑joo (Park Bo‑young), who comes into possession of a smuggling ring’s cache of gold bars worth 150 billion KRW (about $112.5 million). Caught in a web of greed and betrayal, she fights to keep the haul. True to its adult‑only rating, critics called the premiere explicit, but the audience response was strong enough to displace MBC’s “21st Century Grand Lady” from the top spot.
According to MobileIndex, Disney+ had about 3.46 million monthly users in April. After dipping into the 2 million range last year, the platform has stabilized in the 3 million range and is aiming for 4 million. Growing interest in new releases and a three‑service bundle launched with Tving and Wavve appear to be drawing subscribers back.
Compared with Netflix (14.79 million), Coupang Play (9.10 million) and Tving (7.70 million), Disney+ still trails by a wide margin, but it is roughly on par with Wavve (3.89 million). With Goldland leading the charge, Disney+ has a realistic shot at shedding its last‑place status four years after its Korean debut.
After a string of misses that prompted rumors it might pull back from Korean projects, Disney+ instead increased investment, pressing a comeback in a market where Netflix still leads. Disney sees Disney+ as a core growth business going forward.
Following Goldland, Disney+ plans to roll out more Korean originals this year, including Killer’s Shopping Mall Season 2, The Remarriage Empress, Made in Korea 2 and Temptation, aiming to narrow the gap with Netflix.
Disney points to storytelling as the strength of its Korean slate and says these shows have found strong audiences not only across the Asia‑Pacific region and the United States but also in Latin America.
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