What you should watch this Chuseok

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NEWs GENERATION is a program hosted by Arirang TV covering Korea’s latest trends and current affairs from the perspective of those in their twenties and thirties (millennial and Gen Zers, dubbed the ‘MZ Generation’ in Korea). For all of my appearances, visit
NEWs GENERATION Appearance.

Do you enjoy streaming platforms? If so, what kind of content do you usually find yourself watching?

I do enjoy streaming platforms, maybe a little too much when it comes to the holidays. We’ve recently started the Fall semester at my university, so I don’t have that much free time on my hands at the moment, but maybe that’s a good thing. Things can get really dangerous when it comes to a show or series I like, especially because I love binge watching. As for the content that I find myself watching, I don’t think I have a specific genre that I enjoy in particular, just whatever I get recommended and seems most interesting and trendy.

A big part of that I feel is because these platforms have replaced a lot, if not all, of my regular TV watch time. There’s so much content that you can choose to watch, whether that be movies or dramas. You don’t have to be confined by the regularly scheduled programming of traditional TV channels when you can choose to watch what you want whenever you want to.

The statistics mentioned show that people in their 20s spend an average of 70 minutes a day, and those in their 30s spend about 54 minutes daily on streaming services. Does that match your own viewing habits?

That statistic sounds about right to me, especially as someone in their early 20s. Looking at myself or my friends, the time that we used to spend watching TV or going to the movies have mostly been taken over by streaming services. It used to be the case where you would have to wait a few weeks or even months to be able to see newly released movies at home, but many films today are released simultaneously in both theaters and streaming platforms.

That’s of course thanks to COVID-19 changing so much of our daily lives, like how we consume media and the way in which the media industry operates. Given the costs of going to a theater or paying for cable, watching something on a streaming service has become a no-brainer for a lot of people unless they want to see something with their friends or family on the big screen.

As mentioned earlier, the Chuseok holiday is about to start in South Korea, and it's the perfect time to catch up on all the content you've missed. It’s also a golden opportunity for streaming services to release new content since everyone is looking for something fresh to watch. Do you have any recommendations for our viewers, service by service?

I’ll try to make recommendations service-by-service because what tends to happen is you subscribe to a platform, then something good comes out that’s available on another platform, so you just kind of start collecting and subscribing to all of these streaming services.

Starting with Disney+, much like Netflix, they didn’t really have much of a ‘hit series’ after Moving in 2023, but The Tyrant, which was recently introduced, appears to be bringing a lot of attention, not only in Korea but also Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore. On Korean streaming service TVING, its original historical drama titled Queen Woo has also been pretty popular.

The hit series Pachinko is also back with its second season on Apple TV+ and has been met with lots of critical acclaim, topping charts in 14 countries including Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, and the Philippines as of August 25th. Meanwhile, Wavve, another Korean streaming service, has seen more popular Korean dramas uploaded and added to its library.

Other than dramas, various types of content such as variety shows, comedy shows, and even sports continue to be enjoyed on these services, filling the gap between TV and YouTube experiences for Koreans while attracting a lot of international interest, as a lot of foreigners, including many of my friends, love watching Korean variety shows.

Before we wrap up, any final advice for our viewers who are wondering what to watch on streaming services this Chuseok?

First and foremost, I’m someone who swears by whatever recommendations pop up on my screen, and I think that goes for a lot of people as well. I don’t think I can make my recommendations as relevant and personalized as the algorithms, so I’ll instead suggest viewing different genres and types of content that you don’t usually see.

Also, I’d say don’t be like me and stay up the whole night binge watching a series because you like it so much or can’t wait to see what’s next. As much as holidays are for us to do what we don’t usually have time for, you should definitely get some well-deserved rest this Chuseok.