Are you a fan of Korean entertainment content? If so, you might have heard of OnDemandKorea (ODK).
Many streaming services now offer Korean content. However, it is still not easy to find a platform that offers dedicated Korean content – this is what OnDemandKorea promises.
But is the streaming service worth it? Below is a detailed review of the platform, including five exciting facts you should know before deciding to sign up.
1. Is OnDemandKorea free?
Cost is one of the major factors to consider when looking for a streaming platform. If you are interested in OnDemandKorea, you will be pleased to know that it is a freemium platform, which offers both free and premium content.
The free gives you access to ODK’s video-on-demand library, which also includes some content from Kocowa (24 hours after it airs). You can also access Live TV for free on OnDemandKorea, including live sports.
The only trade-off is that the free plan is ad-supported, so you will have to watch ads while streaming content.
Besides the free plan, ODK offers several premium plans, which include:
- Standard with Kocowa
- Premium with Kocowa
- Family with Kocowa
- ODK Box with Kocowa
The Standard plan
The Standard ODK plan is available at $7.99 per month or $79.99 annually. It is an ad-supported plan, but features fewer ads than the free plan.
It offers unlimited access to all OnDemandKorea premium content and Kocowa.
The Premium plan
The Premium OnDemandKorea plan is available at $13.99 per month or $139.99 annually. It is an ad-free plan that offers unlimited access to the premium content and Kocowa.
The premium plan also supports up to two profiles per account. In addition, you can stream on two different devices at the same time.
The Family plan
The Family ODK plan is available at $16.99 per month or $169.99 per month. Similar to the premium plan, this ad-free plan provides unlimited access to premium and Kocowa content.
Other perks of the family plan include up to four profiles on the same account and streaming on up to four devices at the same time.
The ODK Box plan
The ODK Box plan is another ad-free plan that is available at $19.99 per month or $180 annually. Like the name suggests, it also comes with an OnDemandKorea streaming box, which you can rent for free after paying a security deposit of $50 (with free shipping).
ODK Box plan offers unlimited access to premium content and Kocowa’s library. You can also enjoy over 100 premium live TV channels, register up to four profiles on the same account, and stream on up to four devices simultaneously.
All OnDemandKorea plans (including the free plan) offer streams of up to 1080p Full HD video quality. In addition, you can enjoy a 7-day free trial period on Standard, Premium, and Family plans and a $6.99 subscription fee on the ODK Box plan for the first month.
2. What kind of content can you watch?
OnDemandKorea collaborates with various content partners, which allows them to offer a diverse selection of content. Some of the top partners include:
- Korean broadcasting channels: These include SBS, KBS, MBC, and EBS.
- Top South Korean cable news channels: Channel A, JTBC, MBN, TV Chosun, Yonhap News, and YTN.
- Film distributors: CJ ENM and ShowBox.
- Content production companies: ENA, iHQ, Kakao M, Tcast, and ODK Original.
The platform has over 200 content partners, which have helped them build a massive library with over 500 movies and over 400,000 hours of content.
Below is a look at various types of content you can enjoy on the platform:
On-demand content
OnDemandKorea primarily offers video-on-demand content. This includes:
- Movies
ODK has a huge selection of movies. Nearly all of them are Korean movies in various genres, including action, comedy, crime, romance, thrillers, horror, fantasy, Sci-Fi, historical movies, war movies, and more.
Some popular titles on the platform include Mission Sky, Citizen of a Kind, The Swordsman, Hopeless, Ashfall, Emergency Declaration, The Witch, Hit-and-Run Squad, and Ok! Madam.
- Dramas
OnDemandKorea is an excellent streaming platform to consider if you are a fan of K-dramas. It has a large collection of dramas in several genres, including action, comedy, romance, crime, and more.
Some popular dramas on the platform include Weak Hero, Oh My Ghost Client, Strangers from Hell, Undercover High School, Friendly Rivalry, The Fiery Priest, Family Matters, Dream High, and Taxi Driver.
- Documentaries
ODK offers several documentaries touching on various topics from travel to crime, investigative reports, food, history, and more.
Some top documentary titles you can enjoy on the platform include Love Across the Sea, History Unpacked, Welcome to X-world, True Story, Korea Travel, Case File 24, and more.
- Variety shows
OnDemandKorea also offers a large collection of variety shows, which include reality TV shows, game shows, sketchy comedy shows, music shows, and more.
Some top titles you can enjoy include Earth Sweepers, Mr Eos Food Tour, Brave Detectives, Let’s Play Soccer, Romance Coach, With Miss 3, and The Manager.
- Other content
You can also find several other categories of on-demand content on ODK. This includes on-demand news programs, commercials from the ODK shop, celebrity news, and content for kids, lifestyle, religion, and education.
Live TV
In addition to on-demand content, ODK offers live TV channels, some of which are available to everyone (including the free plan) and others that are restricted to the premium plans.
Some of the TV channels you can watch on the platform include:
- Yonhap News TV
- YTN
- News Today
- KBO Baseball League
- ODK PICK Golf
- EBS
- Comedy TV
- E Channel
- CJ Drama Crime
- CJ Drama Thriller
- CJ ENM Romance
- CJ ENM Comedy
- K-Stage
- KPOP+
- Kids_
- JBTC Live
- TV Chosun 24 Live
- MBC+
- The Washington Post Television
- Pac-12 Insider
- Arirang TV
- Baduk TV
- CTS
- Billiard TV Channel
3. Where is OnDemandKorea available?
OnDemandKorea primarily caters to viewers in the North American region, specifically the United States and Canada.
However, the streaming service is also available in other regions, including Mexico, parts of South America, including Brazil, and South Korea.
Some users have also reported being able to access the streaming service in other parts of the world, including Europe, Australia, Southeast Asia, and Africa.
However, most of the content, especially premium content, is geo-restricted and is only available in North America.
4. How can you watch OnDemandKorea?
You can access the ODK streaming service via multiple platforms on several streaming devices. These include:
- Personal computers and other internet-connected devices: You can watch OnDK via web browsers, such as Google Chrome, Safari, Microsoft Edge, and Firefox.
- Mobile devices: You can access the streaming service via the OnDemandKorea streaming app, which you can download from the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store. The app is only compatible with Android 8.0+ and iOS 14.2+ devices.
- Smart TVs: You can access the platform via the ODK app on your smart TV. Supported TVs include Samsung TV, LG TC, Roku TV, and other select Smart TVs running on Google TV and Android TV OS.
- Streaming devices: The OnDemandKorea app is also available on various streaming devices, including Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Chromecast. You can also use the ODK Box to access the platform.
5. Is content on the streaming platform available in English?
Given that OnDemandKorea primarily offers Korean content, you might be wondering if you can stream titles in English.
The bad news is that most of the content on the platform (apart from some Western live TV channels) is not in English, with the primary language of content being Korean.
However, several titles come with subtitles in various languages, including Korean, English, and Chinese (Traditional and Simplified Chinese).
In addition, the platform has a sorting feature, which you can use to select content with subtitles in a specific language. This can save you from a situation where you start streaming a video, only to find that it doesn’t have your preferred subtitles.
Is OnDemandKorea worth it?
OnDemandKorea is not the most popular Korean streaming platform. The service has even received bad reviews, with some users complaining about excessive ads and a lack of subtitles for some of its titles.
However, it can be a decent streaming platform to subscribe to, whether on the free or premium plans.
If you choose the free plan, you can access a decent amount of on-demand content and live TV channels, including live sports, something that is not easy to find on free streaming platforms.
On the other hand, the premium plans can offer you access to a lot more content without ads. However, the subscription cost of the premium plans might be slightly more expensive compared to other Korean streaming platforms.