When it comes to streaming sites of foreign television entertainment, either they be dramas or movies, DramaFever is probably at the forefront. The reason why is because DramaFever’s business plan is similar to that of Hulu, but with far better incentives at a more tantalizing price for customers. Also, DramaFever concentrates their services mostly for the western demographic including the United States. However, there was one streaming site that is probably the first (if not the first) when it comes to bringing foreign television to the world and that is Viki.
Founded back in 2007, Viki is actually an international streaming site that brings dramas to the world. They are a subsidiary of Rakuten with company offices set up in Singapore, San Francisco, Indonesia, and South Korea. According to stats from Viki’s PF folks, Viki has more than 40 million monthly users and their online community boasts more than 200,000 contributors, from 116 countries, who translate TV shows and films into more than 200 languages. As for their business plan, it is highly unique, too. Unlike Hulu, Netflix, or even DramaFever, Viki is a lot like Wiki in which they use volunteers for content management, mostly in the form of crowdsourced subtitles.
Because of Viki being a streaming site available internationally with its members providing the subtitles, dramas from around the world (specifically Asian regions) are now being enjoyed internationally. And now, Viki has recently reached a major milestone with their crowdsourced subtitles. After eight years, Viki has achieved 1 billion words.
Just so people would understand just how tantamount reaching 1 billion words is, Viki provided some statistics that will surely blow minds. So how big is 1 billion words? A person typing at an average speed has to type non-stop for 47 years to write all the subtitles on Viki. As for readers, it would take them an uninterrupted nine-and-a-half years to read all 1 billion subtitles. If they were used in novels, they could fill about 25,000 of them. Finally, if all the subtitles were written in a straight line, it would be long enough to circumnavigate the moon.
The aforementioned statistics are clearly provided for entertainment purposes just to show people how much a massive undertaking reaching 1 billion words truly is. But what about actual specifics? Viki also provided two such details starting with the top languages (shown in the graph above). Apparently, the top ten languages of subtitles are English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Romanian, Indonesian, Italian, German, Polish, and Turkish. However, the fact more than a quarter of the subtitles are other languages just shows how many other countries out there are possibly watching shows on Viki.
As for the top ten shows subtitled on Viki, they are My Love from the Star (starring Gianna Jun and Kim Soo Hyun), Heirs (starring Lee Min Ho and Park Shin Hye), Playful Kiss (starring Jung So Min and Kim Hyun Joong), Secret Garden (starring Ha Ji Won and Hyun Bin), Boys Over Flowers (starring Ku Hye Sun, Lee Min Ho, Kim Hyun Joong, Kim Bum, and Kim Joon), Fated to Love You (starring Jang Hyuk and Jang Na Ra), Just You (starring Aaron Yan and Puff Guo), Inspiring Generation (starring Kim Hyun Joong, Im Soo Hyang, and Jin Se Yun), City Hunger (starring Lee Min Ho, Park Min Young, and Lee Joon Hyuk), and Smile, You (starring Lee Min Jung, Lee Chun Hee, Choi Jung Yoon, Kang Suk Woo, and Heo Yoon Jung). Viewing the list, it is apparent many go to Viki to watch Korean dramas and movies.
For those interested about Viki, more information on what streaming services they provide can be viewed on their official website . Also, Viki is available on the go with apps for iOS and Google Play.
[Images via Viki]