How do you spend your time at home in the COVID-19 situation? Most people have had to stay indoors at home instead of enjoying their time outside. As these times have increased, people began to find something to do inside. Following the trend, the popularity of OTT (Over-the-top) media services has exploded. OTT refers to a service that provides various media contents such as broadcasting programs, movies, and dramas through the Internet. Moreover, due to the virus, there are fewer movies released on screen and people cannot go to the movies. Therefore, they have started to enjoy a variety of media platforms at home. The reporter will introduce popular OTT media services, Netflix and Watcha with their specific characteristics to help readers choose the best-suited media service for them.

Netflix
The name, Netflix, is a combination of “Net (Internet)” and “Flicks (movies)”. It is an online video streaming service which allows users to enjoy video content. Netflix now has become the 4th largest company in media services and has more than 188 million members all over the world. Also, Netflix members have increased by 16 million since COVID-19. Surely, Netflix is growing bigger and these days, we can find people using Netflix around us easily. Then, why is everybody so enthusiastic about it? How does it work, and what special characteristics do they have?
There are three different payment systems depending on the number of simultaneous users and the quality of the video. Moreover, people can experience 30 days free of charge before the account is converted to a rate payment system. Netflix provides an opportunity to check if it fits an individual before starting the first payment.
One of the other merits of Netflix is the “Netflix Original” content. Original content refers to contents produced and aired only by Netflix. The Netflix Original content not only has the effect of attracting new subscribers, but it is also a device that can bind existing subscribers in for the long run. For example, in Korea, Netflix Original is trying to continue the success of the Kingdom (2019) series. Netflix, which was once only a content distributor, is growing in power by producing its own dramas. It is succeeding to steadily secure existing subscribers with its differentiated content through, Netflix Original.

• Netflix TeleParty
Netflix TeleParty is a Chrome extension program installed and used by Google Chrome. It has the function to start Netflix contents with several people at the same time, chat with them while watching movies, and even pause it. Netflix Teleparty has the great advantage of being able to watch contents together even if you use a different account with your friend or are far away from each other. This is a completely suitable program in the COVID-19 situation where people cannot gather together easily.

Watcha
Watcha is a Korean software company that competes against Netflix. It has a very sophisticated content recommendation algorithm. Since Watcha started in Korea, it has more popular domestic series, as well as exclusive contents such as Game of Thrones, Killing Eve, and Harry Potter. Also, it is recommended to people who like watching movies rather than watching drama series.
Watcha has two different payment systems. Similar to Netflix, people can watch contents without paying for two weeks.
The special characteristic of Watcha is the option to evaluate and comment on the program. Using this function, viewers can give up to five stars to one’s favorite contents among various content lists. This allows subscribers to have a chance of choosing a program after watching the review. Moreover, people can view content that matches the genre, country, and characteristics such as Disney in the category. Watcha provides highly recognized HBO contents works and offers a variety of Japanese animations. Therefore, it is widely used when watching various domestic and foreign movie contents since Netflix mainly offers lots of drama series.

These two services have been able to be at the center of the media platform because they have the strength to cover up disadvantages. They have been constantly developing from the past by making, selecting, and recreating various contents from all over the world. The whole country is having a hard time overcoming the crisis in many ways. To relieve your boredom at home, how about logging in to your OTT service, and enjoy the various contents?