ABS-CBN is showing up where K-Dramas dominate. What happens next?

For years, global audiences have gone to Rakuten Viki for a familiar menu: Korean dramas, Chinese romances, Japanese series, and a growing selection of Asian content with devoted international fan bases.

Now, they will find ABS-CBN there, too.

New partnership

Through a new partnership with Rakuten Viki, ABS-CBN said on Friday that it is bringing selected titles from its content library to more than 200 countries and territories, placing Filipino stories on one of the world’s largest platforms for Asian entertainment.

On paper, it’s a content distribution deal. In practice, it means Filipino dramas are entering a neighborhood where the competition is not like other Filipino dramas. It’s K-dramas.

The launch slate includes It’s Okay to Not Be Okay, ABS-CBN’s adaptation of the South Korean hit series starring Anne Curtis, Joshua Garcia, and Carlo Aquino, as well as He’s Into Her and He’s Into Her Season 2, the youth romance franchise led by Donny Pangilinan and Belle Mariano.

Titles available with subtitles

ABS-CBN said these titles will be available with English, Spanish, Portuguese and French subtitles, with additional language support expected through Viki’s community-powered subtitling network.

The Rakuten Viki deal is the latest step in ABS-CBN’s international expansion strategy.

Alongside Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and Thai content, ABS-CBN’s programs will now be available to Viki’s global user base.

The development follows other recent international milestones for the company, including the launch of 2 Good 2 Be True on Dubai One in the Middle East and the continued growth of its content distribution business across multiple regions worldwide.