14 minute read
Content goes global
CONTENT WITHOUT BORDERS Korean Wave power
TV audiences across Asia have long been in love with Korean shows. Now, the rest of the world has fallen under the spell of the innovative content from this production powerhouse. Andy Fry finds out why
EXPLAINING the international appeal of Korean content, Joun Je-Yeon, director of content business at public broadcaster KBS, says: “Korean content places a strong emphasis on universal themes, like family-oriented stories. And Korean producers know how to make unique and attractive shows. As a result, we believe Korean content has what it takes to travel well all around the world.”
KBS started distributing KBS content worldwide via subsidiary KBS Media around 30 years ago, so it has accumulated vast experience in terms of the kind of content that appeals to global buyers. And by embracing the expansion of the pay-TV and OTT platforms, it has managed to license content to numerous non-traditional markets, including the US and Europe. Its biggest breakthrough to date, The Good Doctor, was sold as a format to US network ABC. “The key driver of the worldwide success of The Good Doctor is that the story is based on humanism,” Joun says. “It resonates with the global audience as the protagonist, who has autism, overcomes obstacles and grows into a talented surgeon. Its strength is an appealing story and the US success has made it a globally acclaimed format.” KBS produces across several genres and this has a positive knock-on effect on its export business. Joun cites the example of Oops! We Forgot Your Order, a factual entertainment show that features elderly people with mild dementia who set up restaurants. The format, which addresses a challenging social issue through the prism of a light-hearted and engaging narrative, has been sold to China, Switzerland and Vietnam, and is in pre-production for season two in Korea. Coming into MIPCOM Online+ 2020, Joun says KBS is highlighting “unique and universal programmes that will be introduced on OTT platforms simultaneously with broadcast TV”. These include comic drama Zombie Detective and celebrity cooking competition Stars’ Top Recipe At Fun-Staurant. Like KBS, commercial channel MBC has enjoyed numerous international success stories, most notably with its entertainment format The Masked Singer. During MIPCOM, Jean Hur, MBC’s director of international relations, says the company hopes to meet new buyers, especially from regions beyond Asia. “We are glad that Korea is the Country Of Honour, because it is an opportunity to introduce our original content and seek new business opportunities,” she adds. “We are open to production partnerships and co-production opportunities in all genres of programming. We think that international co-production can be all the more effective now that COVID-19 is hindering so much international filming.” MBC, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2021, is active across drama, entertainment and documentary. “MBC drama series such as Coffee Prince and Jewel In The Palace,
as well as reality shows such as Infinite Challenge and I Live Alone, have impressed viewers from Korea and abroad,” Hur says. On the success of Korean content exports, Hur adds: “Koreans are genuinely energetic, but we believe that the power of our content is the key that leads to good business. Asia is, of course, our primary focus market but, when it comes to formats and co-productions, we have partnerships with broadcasters and production houses from all regions.”
The third of Korea’s major broadcasters, SBS, comes to MIPCOM having had a run of domestic success in drama, says Kevin Ko, CEE and MENA sales executive at the SBS Contents Hub: “According to a Nielsen survey in the first half of 2020, SBS ranked the first in household and individual TV ratings in drama among the five major broadcasters. This is a good indicator of SBS dramas’ current competitiveness. The Heirs, My Love From The Star, While You Were Sleeping, Pinocchio and Doctors are the representative works. At MIPCOM SBS will introduce both format and finished content.” Ko says SBS has a strong presence in all Asia, the US, and the Middle East and is building up its presence in Europe, Russia and Oceania. Explaining why Korea content works internationally, Ko says: “Korean culture is neither conservative nor radical, so it has the advantage of universal appeal. Koreans are curious about new things and their interests change quickly, which leads writers and producers to explore diverse stories and new formats.” The big three Korean networks — KBS, MBC and SBS — are the main exporters of content. However, their traditional dominance is being challenged by other companies, including CJ ENM, a production powerhouse that built up its presence in the pay-TV market. “CJ ENM has in-house sales, production and broadcasting capacities,” says format sales director Diane Min. “One of its greatest strengths is its ability to produce shows for its own networks. Our content portfolio spans every type of show, because we own and operate multiple channels that target different audiences.” Min says CJ ENM has been expanding its reach beyond Asia via its finished-programme and format sales business, and has begun exploring co-production opportunities: “Korean audiences are particularly trend sensitive, so Korean content creators and providers are constantly looking to present something new. Initially, our content mainly saw success within Asia, but we have definitely seen a spike in interest from buyers in the West. Korean content offers a unique sensibility that is new and fresh to international viewers.”
Diane Min
CJ ENM’s MIPCOM mission is not only to introduce new shows to the market, but also to push for the licensing of formats that have already been sold. “Last year was a very busy year, especially for formats,” Min says. “We are hoping that the COVID-19 situation will have improved enough by next year to allow for more production. We are particularly excited about our music entertainment format, I Can See Your Voice, which has already been sold to multiple countries and premiered in the US on September 23.” Another Korean player that has expanded its range of content is Channel A, which produces most of its content in-house. “We do co-operate with independent producers, especially for drama, but we hope that, in the near future, we are able to develop a fully structured in-house production and development team,” says Channel A assistant manager Son Dahye. For Son, Channel A’s biggest strength is that it does not limit itself in terms of genre: “The genre spectrum we explore is wide and we are not afraid of exploring new ones. We have done format and option deals and we have also licensed our original content, including drama and entertainment, worldwide.” Korean content works well abroad because it is unique, Son adds: “It could be the genre or the way the content is displayed, but there is usually something unique. Also, Korean companies are very flexible. At Channel A, we always explore new ways of working and we listen to our buyers.” JTBC has produced several hit TV series over the past decade. Active across a range of genres, JTBC Studios produces and distributes around 400 titles and 4,700 episodes to JTBC Networks and various platforms around the world, including Netflix. Upcoming projects
JTBC’s Itaewon Class
commissioned by Netflix include All Of Us Are Dead and Annarasumanara. “Despite the pandemic, we have been blessed with a few record-breaking TV series this year, including The World Of The Married and Itaewon Class,” JTBC executive manager Charlie Park says. “Itaewon Class, which was based on a popular webtoon, had the highest ratings in its timeslot and was licensed to Netflix.” JTBC priorities for MIPCOM include scripted format Graceful Friends and shinyfloor format Super Band. “Graceful Friends is about four suburbanites who find a dead body and, coincidently, the same four were also the first at the scene of a different murder 20 years ago,” Park says. “The series is like a male-version of Desperate Housewives, with its sharp commentary on social expectations and how friendships can be entangled in a web of lies.” Formats, both scripted and unscripted, are a JTBC strength, Park reports, citing Sky Castle, which has been optioned by Warner Bros. in the US and Misty, which has been licensed to MBC for MENA. “Audiences all over the world are falling in love with Korean content because Korean producers and directors always push themselves to make something fresh,” he adds. “Also, the language barrier has reduced and we are seeing more opportunities to get Korean-language content commissioned by global streamers. Everyone is looking for a good story, no matter the language.”
FORMATS In tune with demand
Korean drama has been selling strongly for many years, so it was only a matter of time before this dynamic creative hub delivered a hit singing format to the world... Andy Fry reports
THE SCALE of success enjoyed by MBC’s The Masked Singer has surprised even the most tuned-in pundits. Since debuting on Fox US in January 2019, the offbeat entertainment show has taken the world by storm, having previously also proved popular in mainland China. With successful versions in countries including the UK, France, Germany, Russia and Mexico, The Masked Singer can stake a claim to being the biggest breakthrough in musical talent shows since the launch of The Voice. The format, which sees mystery celebrities performing songs from behind elaborately crafted masks, has provided a massive boost to free-to-air TV channels at a time when audiences are migrating in large numbers to streaming platforms. It has been one of the appointment-to-view highlights of a challenging year. Aidan Lee, head of format sales at MBC, says: “Some Korean formats have been popular in mainland China and other Asian countries, and a few have travelled to the US and Europe. However, the success of The Masked Singer was beyond anybody’s imagination or expectation. We can confirm the closure of format deals to over 50 countries so far and we are still deluged with offers.”
Aidan Lee
Seeking to capitalise further on the show’s success, Lee says MBC has lined up MIPCOM meetings with TV channels and production houses to discuss second- and third-season deals. In addition, other formats, including My Little Television and Mystery Ranking Show, are being unveiled. “And our documentary department has created fresh factual formats suitable for universal adaptation,” he adds. There are particularly high hopes for My Little Television, a celebrity talent competition series now airing on WarnerMedia-owned US cablenet TBS, with The Masked Singer executive producer Craig Plestis on board. Called Celebrity Show-Off in the US, the quarantine-friendly, social media-inspired show sees contestants develop online videos and compete to gain the highest number of views before the show ends. “After discovering The Masked Singer, I have been on the lookout for interesting Korean formats. Celebrity Show-Off is exactly that — a fresh, fun series unlike anything else on television,” Plestis says. “It has been an almost unimaginable decade since I started my format career as one of the first pioneers in Korea,” says Kim Il Joong, senior director of entertainment at SBS. Back then, if I had suggested a lot of what has happened in recent years, I would definitely have been teased by my colleagues.”
Kim Il Joong
About a decade ago, Korean government agency KOCCA saw the potential of the global format industry, and began to provide its support to Korean players. “As one of the first beneficiaries, I met many global colleagues at the Entertainment Master Class in 2008,” Kim says. Since then, the number of broadcasting companies in Korea has skyrocketed from four to nine, causing a surge in the number of players involved in the industry. Prior to the emergence of The Masked Singer, one Korean format that was already doing well was the SBS variety show Running Man. Kevin Ko, CEE and MENA sales executive at the SBS Contents Hub, says the show, which is now nine years old, has sold in its original version to 20 countries, mainly in Asia. “To date, only China and Vietnam have produced local versions,” he adds. “However, in both cases, an SBS production team led the production. We have interest from other countries and will soon launch season one in the Philippines.” According to Ko, part of the franchise’s longevity is down to its adaptability: “The programme has continued to offer new attractions by changing its components. It’s a good illustration of how Korea writers and producers constantly think about new ideas.” One thing that has made the show especially valuable is its success in introducing new talent to the SBS family — something Ko calls a “win-win”: “Discovering new performers with potential and passion is a continuous challenge for broadcasters. Singers, actors, and moderators that develop their profile on Running Man can become active in the company’s other entertainment programmes and help increase fandom.” Although The Masked Singer is an MBC show, Ko says that its success has increased interest in Korean
Ahn Yujin, host of My Little Television
formats in general. “Not only studio formats, but various outdoor, variety and reality entertainment shows, which are strong in Korea, seem to be more popular than before,” he adds. One beneficiary of The Masked Singer effect is CJ ENM’s I Can See Your Voice, which first aired on the company’s entertainment channel tvN in 2015 — the same year that saw The Masked Singer launch. In this case, guest musical artists attempt to distinguish between good and bad mystery singers without hearing their voices, guided by clues such as the standard of their lip-sync performances. Having enjoyed success across Asia, the format is now breaking out in several major international markets, with Fox in the US electing to run it alongside The Masked Singer this autumn. With Germany’s RTL and the UK’s BBC also on board, I Can See Your Voice is well positioned to enjoy similar success to MBC’s hit show. Rob Wade, president of alternative entertainment and specials at Fox Entertainment, says: “Safely filming I Can See Your Voice was a win in itself, but when we saw the magic of the show and felt the palpable suspense in the room before that first note hit, we knew we had to share it with audiences this season.” Diane Min, CJ ENM’s head of format sales, adds: “Although the show is unique, it’s still easy to follow and viewers at home can play along. The high engagement factor has kept the show on air in Korea for seven seasons.” CJ ENM is not a stranger to format success, having seen tvN’s Grandpas Over Flowers adapted as Better Late Than Never for NBC in a deal brokered by Tim Crescenti of Small World International. Nevertheless, Min says that I Can See Your Voice has opened up new production opportunities in countries where CJ ENM has never produced local series. “It is exciting to expand our global footprint,” she adds. Other leading Korean players also smell an opportunity. “For MIPCOM 2020, we have Heart Signal, a dating show in which eight males and females live together in the ‘signal house’ for a month,” says Channel A assistant manager Son Dahye. “We also have celebrities who sit in the studio watching how people in the house bond, then predict how their relationships will progress. This show was a hit in Korea and all over Asia. We also optioned it to the US and, though it didn’t lead to production, the format was well received.” JTBC, meanwhile, is pitching a show called Super Band to buyers, says executive manager Charlie Park. “Super Band is a competition show inviting musicians, from street singers to sensational cellists, to collaborate and create original harmonies together as a band. At the end, one Super Band will win it all, but nobody knows how many will be in the band, or what genre of music they will play.” In addition, JTBC has closed a format representation and co-production deal with A+E Networks. The deal, signed in 2019, kicked off with a talk show featuring Korean pop star CL. Moving forward, Hong Jeongdo, president of JTBC parent company JoongAng Media Group, believes the partnership “represents an important step towards JTBC’s vision of transforming into a global studio”.
