'This F***ing Love' hits No. 1 on Netflix non-English TV list

The romantic comedy 'This F***ing Love,' starring Jung Hae-in and Oh Ha-young, has proven its global appeal by reaching the top of Netflix's non-English TV shows list just two weeks after its release. Although unexpected variables arose in the domestic market due to controversy surrounding lead actress Oh Ha-young's family history, interest from overseas viewers in the series appears to be maintaining a steep upward trend.

According to Netflix's official site Tudum on the 19th, 'This F***ing Love' ranked 1st in the non-English TV show category, recording 7.5 million Views from the 10th to the 16th. Netflix's Views metric is calculated by dividing total watch time by the runtime of the work, a metric that reflects actual viewing time unlike simple play counts.

Released simultaneously worldwide on the 7th, 'This F***ing Love' started at 5th place in the non-English show rankings during its first week. However, entering its second week of release, it climbed four spots to seize the top position. This signifies that the initial buzz did not end in one-time consumption but has led to sustained viewership and global expansion.

The performance by country is also notable.

It ranked 1st in 26 countries, including the Republic of Korea, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, and Indonesia, and appeared in the Top 10 in 68 countries worldwide. Rather than being concentrated in a specific region, its scalability as global content is prominent as it is being consumed evenly across various regions such as Asia and Latin America.

'This F***ing Love' is a romantic comedy depicting the story of a prosecutor suffering from amnesia and a former gangster turned boxing coach who claims to be his boyfriend, living together in the countryside.

The setting, where a character who has lost their memory lives in the same space as a character who knows their past self, serves as a device that creates not only romance and comedy but also mystery-driven tension. Furthermore, by combining the relationship between two extremely different individuals—a prosecutor and a former gang member—the genre contrast is strengthened.

Jung and Oh are making their presence known to global viewers by working together as leads in a work with such distinct genre colors.

In Korea, however, controversies outside of the work emerged.

After Oh introduced her family as a 'four-generation doctor family' on a recent broadcast, she became embroiled in a controversy regarding her great-grandfather's pro-Japanese activities. As debates over the relevant facts and historical perception spread, it affected the actress's promotional activities, leading to situations where scheduled interviews were canceled.

This has created an unusual situation where the success of the work and the controversy surrounding the individual actor are proceeding simultaneously.

However, looking only at the global viewership metrics released so far, it is difficult to conclude that the controversy has dealt a direct blow to the work's overseas consumption. Rather, given the rise from 5th place in the first week to 1st place in the second week, it is interpreted that the narrative of the work itself, the actors' performances, and word-of-mouth are driving continuous viewership.

In particular, within Netflix's global content consumption structure, the domestic image of an individual actor and the overseas success of a work do not necessarily follow the same trajectory. Due to the nature of the platform, where the work itself lowers linguistic barriers through subtitles and dubbing and is consumed centered on genre-based enjoyment, a certain distance can exist between domestic issues surrounding an actor and the global performance of the work.

Other Korean works have also occupied the upper ranks of non-English shows.

The romantic comedy 'The Chilling Romance,' starring Park Eun-bin and Yang Se-jong, rose to 3rd place with 2.7 million Views, and the action series 'Mr. Bum' starring So Ji-sub recorded 9th place with 1.4 million Views. This demonstrates that Korean drama and film content is being steadily consumed on global platforms regardless of genre.

Ultimately, the No. 1 ranking of 'This F***ing Love' shows that the competitiveness of the content itself resonated with global viewers, separate from the complex domestic situation surrounding the work and the actors.

Whether the controversy surrounding Oh will affect the work's domestic and international recognition in the future is a separate matter. However, looking at the results of the second week of release at the very least, the impact of the controversy did not break the upward trend of the global box office.

Rather, the rapid rise from 5th to 1st place is read as an indicator that 'This F***ing Love' is being consumed as an independent piece of content beyond the individual buzz.