Rakuten Viki, a streaming service focusing on Asian content, is hosting International K-Drama Day on November 29.

The event is designed to mark the increasing appeal of dramas from Korea.

Rakuten Viki, a subscription service, will be offering free access to a selection of popular K-Dramas on November 29 including Twinkling Watermelon and What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim. 

As part of K-Drama Day, Rakuten Viki is offering 29% off any Viki Pass subscription plans.

Viewers will be quizzed on their knowledge of the Korean language through a promotion with Duolingo. Prizes include subscription to Super Duolingo and Rakuten Viki.

Rakuten Viki is also running a sweepstakes with a grand prize of a trip to Korea to visit sites where popular shows were filmed. The grand prize winner also gets a one-year Viki Pass subscription, a one-year subscription to Super Duolingo and assorted Viki swag.

The company is also giving away prizes including Roku Ultra or Roku Express 4K streaming devices, Korean snack boxes, skin serums from Peach & Lily and giant boba plushes.

“With the phenomenal popularity of Korean entertainment and culture, we are thrilled to introduce the first-ever International K-Drama Day to celebrate our love for Korean dramas and films with fans all over the world,” said Sam Wu, CEO at Rakuten Viki. “As the first streaming platform to bring Asian content to viewers in the U.S., we are so proud to be at the forefront of establishing this unprecedented celebration with the leading voices in the industry.”

As part of the event, Webtoon, the world’s largest digital comics platform, will host an exciting in-app reading event where fans can read episodes of the original digital comics that have been adapted into popular K-dramas, like A Good Day to Be a Dog, Perfect Marriage Revenge, The Girl Downstairs (Doona!) and Vigilante to unlock a month of Viki Pass Plus ($9.99 value) to watch these series.

“We’re excited to participate in International K-Drama Day and offer fans an exciting way to enjoy their favorite series and characters across different formats,” said Jini Cho, director of digital and partnerships at Webtoon. “It’s been a joy to see stories from Webtoon to life as beloved series on streaming platforms like Rakuten Viki, and what better way to celebrate the richness of these stories with our global fans than a commemorative holiday like International K-Drama Day.”

Rakuten Viki, a streaming service specializing in Asian content, said it is expanding its Watch Party to let users schedule their own private events while watching programming. 

At Watch Parties, users can view programming as a group and interact via chat.

Rakuten Viki introduced its Watch Party over the summer. In addition to private Watch Party, Rakuten Viki continues to schedule community-wide public Watch Parties with an exciting movie event planned at the end of October for Halloween featuring popular horror films.

“Our viewers come to Rakuten Viki not only because of the wide variety of TV shows, movies, and other kinds of enjoyable content, but because they also feel like they are part of a community,” said Cathy Chang, VP of product at Rakuten Viki. 

“They like to discover programs together, give each other recommendations, and help make the programs accessible to even more people by helping to create subtitles in many different languages. The new Watch Party feature is an extension of this community Rakuten Viki users have already been building themselves,” Chang said. “It’s another way for us to bring our community together to engage conversations with each other, especially in the midst of the pandemic, and we are so glad that we can offer this to them.”

Rakuten Viki’s Watch Party is available now via desktop browser in the U.S. with plans to roll out globally at a later date. Premium content will also be available for scheduled Watch Parties in the coming months, as well as additional interactive features. More details will be available at a later date. 

By logging into their Rakuten Viki account, users can host their own private Watch Party and join other Watch Parties for free using a unique link provided by the host. Once a Watch Party starts, users can interact with friends and members of the community via a chat board running parallel to the media player.

Watch Party will expand to all drama episodes, increase content availability, incorporate more community features, and be available in more regions, the company said.

Rakuten Viki offers free streaming (with advertising and limits on some content) and tiered subscriptions of Standard Pass for $4.99 a month, and Plus Pass for $9.99 a month.

Rakuten Viki has a vast collection of more than 1,400 TV shows and movies from Korea, Japan, mainland China, Taiwan, and Thailand.

The service  is available on desktop browser, via Roku, Amazon Firestick, Apple TV+, Android TV, Chromecast, and on mobile devices. Rakuten Viki has a vast collection of more than 1,400 TV shows and movies from Korea, Japan, mainland China, Taiwan, and Thailand.

Asian entertainment-focused streaming platform Rakuten Viki has promoted Makoto Yasuda to the position of chief operating officer.

In his new role, Yasuda will lead the community OTT platform’s business development efforts, overseeing the San Mateo, Calif.-based company’s marketing, advertising, editorial and community teams.

Yasuda is being promoted from the position of senior VP of revenue, where he led Rakuten Viki’s subscription and advertising businesses. He has 15 years of experience at Rakuten, the Japanese company that purchased Viki in 2010 for $200 million.

“Since joining Rakuten Viki in 2014, Makoto has successfully led growth in our subscription business while simultaneously driving significant increases in ad revenues,” said Sam Wu, CEO of Rakuten Viki, in a statement. “Over the years, Makoto has demonstrated a knack for strategy execution, operational excellence, and building transformational teams. We look forward to his continued leadership for Rakuten Viki.”