Japan Consumer Confidence Drops Sharply Amid Rising Fuel Costs and Middle East Tensions 
China Vanke Seeks Bond Extension Amid Mounting Debt Crisis 
U.S. Markets Post Strong Weekly Gains Despite Middle East Tensions and Rising Energy Prices 
Gold Prices Rise on Weaker Dollar and Ceasefire Hopes 
U.S. Inflation Surges in March as Iran War and Tariffs Drive Prices Higher 
Gold Surges Near 3-Week High as Trump-Iran Ceasefire Eases Geopolitical Tensions 
Bill Ackman Eyes New Fund to Bet Against Market Complacency 
OpenAI Addresses Security Vulnerability in macOS App Certification Process 
Colombia and Ecuador Trade War Escalates With Retaliatory Tariffs 
Asian Stocks Rally on Ceasefire Hopes and Bargain Buying 
U.S. Futures Dip as Iran Ceasefire Faces Early Challenges 
U.S. Automakers Push Back Against EU Rules Blocking American Trucks from European Market 
Bank of America Identifies Top Asia-Pacific Semiconductor Stocks Poised for AI-Driven Growth 
Dollar Stabilizes Amid Fragile US-Iran Ceasefire as Markets Watch Hormuz Strait 
China's AI Stocks Surge as Zhipu and MiniMax Hit Record Highs 
Asian Currencies Hold Steady as Middle East Ceasefire Doubts Weigh on Markets 
Alibaba Shares Slide as Jefferies Slashes Price Target Over AI Spending and Business Losses 
Netflix has recently been producing original South Korean drama series that turned out to be big hits such as the "Squid Game," "Kingdom," and most recently, "Hellbound." However, it was observed that it has yet to produce hit series in the field of entertainment shows.
Netflix has been continuously exerting efforts to produce good entertainment shows since 2018 but it seems that its attempts have been futile. In fact, the streaming service giant only has one series under its entertainment show category and it is "Paik's Spirit" which features popular culinary star Paik Jong Won.
The show is on Netflix's top 10 in Korea and has reached its highest rank of fifth place in October. According to The Korea Times, the success of chef Paik's program pushed Netflix to recruit Korean star entertainment show producer, Kim Tae Ho.
The producer already dropped his 10-episode TV show titled "The Hungry and the Hairy" which was released on Saturday. It has only been a few days since it was uploaded on Netflix so it is still early to say how it will do but the company has high expectations.
The show stars Rain and Noh Hong Chul, and they were joined by not only Kim Tae Ho but other well-known producers in Korea as well including Lee Ju Won and Jang Woo Sung. Netflix has been stressing the production of original content in the entertainment category is very important thus scouting the producers is the first step in creating more shows.
Kim Min Young, Netflix's vice president of content (APAC ex-India), said during a press conference that watching programs created by local TV networks that get a lot of love globally such as "Knowing Bros" makes her believe that Netflix can also produce trending shows with original content.
She added, "Though Netflix has to find its own way to make a popular entertainment series, taking into account the fact that existing hit content may fail on OTT platforms."
Meanwhile, the Korean drama "Hellbound" which was released late last month immediately debuted at No. 1 on Netflix. Yonhap News Agency reported that the new content pushed down "Squid Game" to no. 2 after retaining the first place spot worldwide for weeks. This just shows that Korean programs have gained a group of steady followers on the global stage so Korean entertainment content may not really have a hard time getting its own audience now.
