'The Remarried Empress' breaks Disney+ viewership record despite mixed reviews

A still from "The Remarried Empress" [Photo, Disney+]

Disney+'s highly anticipated original series "The Remarried Empress" set a global viewership record within days of its release, even as audience reactions remain sharply divided.

Disney+, which had fallen to last place in South Korea's OTT market amid complaints of a thin content lineup, is now drawing users back with the show.

Disney+ announced Sunday that "The Remarried Empress" had set an all-time record for the most-watched Disney+ local original title worldwide within its first three days of release.

The series is based on a popular web novel and webtoon. It follows Navier (played by Shin Min-a), the flawless empress of the Eastern Empire, who is served with divorce papers by Emperor Sovieshu (Joo Ji-hoon) after he falls for a runaway slave named Rasta (Lee Se-young). Rather than simply accepting the divorce, Navier demands approval to remarry Prince Heinrey (Lee Jong-suk) of the Western Kingdom — setting off a sweeping romance fantasy Sageuk drama.

Since its release Tuesday, "The Remarried Empress" has become the most-watched Disney+ local original title globally of all time.

The series also topped the charts for Korean titles in more than 50 markets worldwide, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Spain and Germany. Four episodes have been released so far, with two new episodes dropping every Wednesday for a total run of 10.

The live-action adaptation of the popular web novel has drawn polarized reactions. Many viewers praised it as a refreshing genre experience, but others were more critical — some compared its visual style to that of "Sinbihan TV Surprise," a long-running Korean mystery reenactment show, while others found the exaggerated dialogue and direction typical of romance fantasy too much to sit through.

Disney+ titles set to release this year [Photo, Disney+]

Disney+, once seen as a potential rival to Netflix in South Korea, has long struggled with monthly active users in the 2 million to 3 million range, placing it last among domestic OTT platforms.

The platform will introduce an ad-supported subscription tier at 7,000 won a month starting Tuesday — roughly half the price of its existing premium plan at 13,900 won a month. The move aims to lower the barrier to entry and attract new subscribers.

Having entered the South Korean market in 2021, Disney+ is under pressure to demonstrate meaningful results after five years, but conditions remain difficult. According to Mobile Index, Disney+'s monthly active users fell 6.9 percent from the previous month to 3.73 million in September.

That figure is nearly four times lower than market leader Netflix, which logged about 15.5 million monthly active users. Disney+ also trails Tving at about 9.99 million, Coupang Play at about 9.19 million, and even Wavve at about 3.97 million, underscoring the platform's struggle to expand its user base.

Industry observers point to a lack of competitive original content as the primary reason for Disney+'s stagnant growth. Whether the breakout success of "The Remarried Empress" combined with the new lower-priced ad tier can open a path forward for the platform remains to be seen.

park@heraldcorp.com