How South Korea became Netflix's key to AsiaTo peer into Netflix's future, take a look at South Korea. Netflix has established itself as the dominant player in the U.S., Europe and Latin America. But Asia is still up for grabs, and Netflix's success or failure will determine whether or not it stays atop the streaming heap. While Asia is home to more than half of the world's population, it is Netflix's smallest region at the moment. It's also an area where Disney is very, very strong. The Los Gatos, California-based company has identified South Korea as one of the keys to cracking the region. Netflix said it had 3.8 million paid subscribers in South Korea at the end of 2020, making it one of the company's clear success stories in Asia (alongside Australia and Japan). The recipe for more success is making more original shows in Korean since South Korea doubles as a cultural hub for the broader region. People in Japan and Southeast Asia eat up Korean dramas and movies. Since entering the country in 2016, the U.S. company has invested $700 million in local content, creating about 80 original series and films in South Korea. Shows like "Kingdom" and "Sweet Home" have been instrumental in attracting new customers. Just this week, the company announced plans to invest $500 million on original movies and TV shows in South Korea this year. Netflix shows Hollywood how to measure diversityNetflix released its most comprehensive report yet cataloging diversity in its films and TV shows. From our story: Conducted by Dr. Stacy L. Smith of the University of Southern California, the report found that Netflix is ahead of its peers while still lagging in many areas. The company has a lot of work to do in creating opportunities for women and people of color behind the camera, as well as people with disabilities or those who identify as LGBTQ on screen. In conjunction with the report, Netflix is committing $100 million to programs that will give women and minorities a better shot at making it in Hollywood. The Netflix Fund for Creative Equity will disburse the money over five years to groups working with members of underrepresented communities, as well as to internal programs that identify, train and provide jobs for up-and-coming talent. … Like other Hollywood studios, Netflix for years has produced films and TV shows that don't reflect society, casting white men in a disproportionate number of roles. The company has pledged to change that, arguing that more diverse movies and TV shows are both a social imperative and good for business.
I asked Dr. Smith why this report mattered, and here's what she had to say: "This audit is historic because it is the first time a major content company has taken a really comprehensive look at how they are doing on screen and behind the camera. They've made a commitment over time to create benchmarks and check in, and my hope is others will do the same."
The NFL has a new TV dealDisney will pay the NFL $2.6 billion a year for the rights to "Monday Night Football," as well as football highlights, according to the Sports Business Journal. That's a 30% increase. If that sounds like a lot, it is and it isn't. The other networks are all being asked to pay double, but Disney/ESPN still pays the most. China is setting box office recordsTwo different movies grossed more than $600 million during their first two weeks in China. "Hi, Mom" and "Detective Chinatown" were the big winners of the Lunar New Year, which is the country's busiest period for filmgoing. Here in the U.S., we're debating if theaters can open in New York and California at 25% capacity. In China, records upon records. Spotify finally goes globalThe audio service is expanding to 80 new territories across Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Caribbean. These countries are home to about 1 billion people, many of whom are getting access to the internet for the first time. That's a key sign that online media is about to take off. Whether they have money to spend on a music service is less clear. Also in Spotify news: The company's hit podcast "Reply All" is on pause after co-host PJ Vogt left the show amid allegations of a toxic workplace. This story isn't over. Correction from last week: I wrote last week that a podcast tied to the TV show "For All Mankind" was Apple's first exclusive podcast. It is one of Apple's first in-house podcasts, but it isn't the first original or exclusive. Streaming subscriptions hit a new high noteMore than 75 million people pay for a streaming service of some kind in the U.S., according to the Recording Industry Association of America.  Sales in the world's largest music market grew by 9% last year even though record stores were closed. It's a digital world. CD sales plummeted, but vinyl sales climbed 29.2%. Concerts back by mid-summer?That's what Live Nation chief Michael Rapino said this week. The concert promoter needs a return to normal. Its sales fell 92% in the final quarter of 2020, and the company is burning through more than $100 million a month. But with about $2 billion in cash to ride out the pandemic, investors aren't concerned. Shares hit an all-time high, based on confidence that customers will rush back to concerts as soon as it's deemed safe. Below, see the initial selloff at the outset of the pandemic, and the steady rise in recent months.  Deals, deals, deals -
AT&T acquired DirecTV in 2015 for $67 billion. Just six years later, it is spinning off its pay-TV business, including DirecTV and AT&T U-Verse, into a separate company worth about $16 billion. What a deal! - NBCUniversal missed out on as much as $2.7 billion in stock gains by selling its shares in Snap and Peloton before the pandemic.
- Hasbro changed the name of the Mr. Potato Head brand to Potato Head. But there will still be a Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head.
- YouTube introduced new features that will make the video site a safer site for tweens.
Weekly playlistDo you like 1960s folk rock and protest music? Then try Chris Pierce's "American Silence." | 
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