12 minute read
K-Phenomenon
THE K-PHENOMENON Korea: a cultural superpower
dIturn’s Crazy Judges
Over the past two decades, the country’s cinema, pop music, fashion and TV dramas have swept around the globe, winning hearts, minds and fans on every continent. And the Korean entertainment wave has a lot more power yet, writes Andy Fry
KOREA’s television business, like many others across Asia, is built around powerful broadcasters with strong in-house production capabilities. For decades, their top priority was to deliver quality content to domestic audiences. But in recent years, they have turned their attention to the international market, ensuring that Korean-originated scripted and non-scripted TV content has a dynamic role to play on the global stage, alongside K-pop and K-fashion. Initiatives designed to support this agenda include FormatEast, a subsidiary of broadcaster SBS that was launched in December 2018. Kim Il Joong, senior director of entertainment at SBS, is part of the executive line-up at both SBS’ Global Contents biz Team and FormatEast. He explains that FormatEast was founded “to expand the market for Korean creators and to become a hub of format IP development and distribution”. FormatEast’s main project, Kim adds, is a government-funded enterprise called FormatEast Creative Lab (FC Lab). Kim, who is also chair of the Korea Format Alliance, says that FC Lab’s first year was “very successful, with numerous fruitful outcomes”. He adds: “One ingenious format from the first edition of FC Lab is Lotto Singer [45 Singers], a new music concept from Park Won Woo, who we all know as the creator of The Masked Singer. Another is Boundary, which was created by Kim Miyeon, who achieved
huge success in China with Running Man. Boundary has been signed to a co-development and distribution contract with Media Ranch, a Canadian format developer that is drawing attention across the industry for its show Watch!” Kim is also optimistic about the ideas coming out of edition two of FormatEast: “I am expecting more positive results this year, because every creator participating has a track record of numerous hit shows and is demonstrating enthusiasm and open-mindedness regarding the international market.”
Most Korean content exports involve the major broadcasting groups or studios. But as the country’s content has started to make waves internationally, more and more dynamic and entrepreneurial creatives have been encouraged to strike out alone. A case in point is the aforementioned Park Won Woo, founder and CEO of indie producer dIturn. “I have been developing TV shows for major broadcasters for nearly 25 years,” Park says. “In Korea alone, I have participated in and created more than 150 programmes, including The Masked Singer. I came up with the idea of The Masked Singer eight years ago and proposed it to many broadcasters. However, I got rejected by all of them. And then I got a chance to produce a pilot episode. And that was the birth of the famous show.”
Park Won Woo
Despite his best efforts, Park did not secure rights in the global phenomenon. “I do not want to make that mistake again,” he says. “So I created dIturn to develop new TV-show ideas that I could pitch to production companies. More recently, we have gained production capability and produced three new TV shows in Korea.” Just as significantly, dIturn has started to attract attention internationally. It is producing shows based on its ideas in Thailand and, recently, unveiled a first-look deal with NBCUniversal. “We couldn’t ask for a better collaborator,” says Toby Gorman, president of Universal Television Alternative Studio. “Park Won Woo is uniquely innovative and his outof-the-box imagination, paired with his clear and distinct voice, has resulted in countless formats that have travelled around the world. He is highly sought after and we look forward to developing the next big formats together.” Park’s key area of activity right now is music shows with the potential to travel internationally. These include the above-mentioned Lotto Singer, My Ranking and the intriguingly titled Crazy Judges. In the last show, four judges are each handed 100 cell phones that contain the numbers of 100 would-be entertainers from around the world. Based purely on their mobile interactions, the four judges have 14 days to select two performers to represent them in a grand finale. All three shows will be talking points during MIPCOM Online+, where Korea is Country Of Honour. “It is great that Korean content has been recognised round the world,” Park says. “I hope MIPCOM can be a place where many more Korean creators are introduced to the world. The world’s content industry will benefit if it is successful in finding hidden treasures in smaller countries such as Korea.”
Dxyz (72Seconds)
While long-form content is still the priority for Korean content exporters, this technologically advanced market is also making great strides in short-form content. CJ ENM, for example, has a project called The Ramyeonater. “Focusing on digital content, some of CJ ENM’s producers have been making shortform content series on YouTube channels,” says Diane Min, format sales director at CJ ENM. “Creators at CJ ENM are willing to experiment with the format across a variety of genres and themes on different platforms. During MIPCOM, CJ ENM wants to share interesting stories about how short-form content allows us to amplify the content we create and build new relationships with our audience.”
Diane Min
Again, there is a dynamic independent flavour to this segment of the Korean content market. Joaquin Rico is head of global business at 72Seconds, a premium short-form content studio founded in 2015 in Seoul. “At 72Seconds, we believe that content has the power to create wonderful, larger-than-life experiences of everyday life. United in this goal, we create hyper-condensed, unique series targeting millennial and Gen-Z audiences,” Rico says. 72Seconds produces for platforms, including Kakao and Naver TV, brands, including KFC, Microsoft, Chevrolet, Samsung and Blizzard, and broadcaster CJ ENM. The studio also produces K-pop content, including originals, ready-mades and formats. Ongoing 72Seconds project dxyz is a drama about two girls that is told “in an extraordi
Park Won Woo, creator of The Masked Singer
nary, unique way”, Rico says. “We leveraged this brand identity to be the first in Korea to license a digital-series format for use in advertising [for SK Telecom and NCSoft]. We have also developed a lifestyle brand around the series.” In addition, the studio is producing a TV series with eight-minute episodes for CJ ENM. “This comedy is about the fun, unexpected everyday life of a family with three teenage children,” Rico adds. The main difference between long-form and short-form drama is pace, Rico says: “We believe web drama should not be a ‘shorter regular drama’. Instead, our series are condensed and amplified to create content that makes sense in a digital space. We achieve this through specialised writing and editing, and using music and rhythm to our advantage.” Outlets vary by series, Rico adds: “For our platform originals, they are viewable on the client platform itself, and we have the distribution rights to most of our content.” 72Seconds’ major partners in Korea include Naver and Kakao. Internationally, partnerships have been forged with, among others, Vuclip, Hanju TV, MNC, Viki and OnDemandKorea. Korea has always been at the forefront of newtech adoption, so it is no surprise that “things are developing very fast on the content front and that audiences are expecting innovation at a fast pace”, Rico says. “It’s a great environment for us to develop digital content.” As for the company’s MIPCOM agenda, it is mainly seeking content partners — “in the form of platforms, broadcasters or producers for content creation”, Rico adds. “Format sales are also a focus for us and we are always open to discuss distribution or co-production opportunities.”
An outbreak of creativity
As one of the world’s biggest entertainment exporters with its popular K-dramas and K-pop music, Korea has been hit hard by the lockdown enforced by the COVID-19 pandemic. But despite the challenges, the Korean entertainment industry is alive, well and coping, discovers Juliana Koranteng
IN THE early days of the pandemic, Korea’s swift response to COVID-19 meant that it was one of the fi rst countries to see a significant fall in the number of cases. However a resurgence in new cases later in the summer forced many TV dramas and shows to halt, suspend or cancel production as strict social distancing once again became mandatory. But this has not dampened the enthusiastic response of the country’s broadcasters, streaming-service providers and creators to Korean viewers’ growing demand for content to enjoy at home. Here, six leading Korean media executives and creators explain how they are responding to the crisis and its impact on future strategies.
Kwon Ki-jae Vice-president of 5G B2C service department, KT Corporation
“BECAUSE there are few blockbuster fi lms opening in cinema theatres, the OTT services have fewer blockbusters. But our Seezn streaming platform is off ering contactless live entertainment by replacing fi lms with paidfor live performances and holding contactless fan meetings with entertainers. At the same time, we have enhanced two-way communications via live chats between fans and entertainers during broadcasts, drawing huge response from users. “With the number of attendees at live-studio fi lming greatly reduced due to fear of infection, studio taping has become impossible, so remote performances have begun using videotelephony. In April, a third-party video conferencing solution and KT’s cloud computing were linked to enable viewers worldwide to
participate remotely in an SBS show featuring famous trot [indigenous Korean musical genre] singers. Fan meetings and other offline events and activities have gradually gone online. “In July, our Narle 5G video-call service arranged a week of contactless fan meetings with the KT Wiz baseball team, which attracted a huge number of KT Wiz fans. Narle, which also provides fortune-telling and tarot-card readings, and advice on love and relationships offline, puts people together for an online ‘talk salon’ service. This is attracting a remarkable response from customers, with an over 50% repeat rate.”
Jung Hong-Dae Head of media strategies, media planning department, MBC
“THE PANDEMIC is taking its toll on the TV industry, which is suffering, especially those productions where scenes requiring human contact is inevitable. However, we believe the damage to the industry won’t be as heavy as it has been on other sectors, because production itself can be done remotely. “It has been reported that more people watched TV or visited OTT platforms because they had to stay home during the outbreak. On the one hand, many were looking for the latest news on COVID-19. On the other, it means more film directors are now working on TV dramas or OTT original content as theatre audiences have shrunk. “In a way, it seems the pandemic has brought a new opportunity to do more non-face-to-face business and has created the possibility of the film industry and online platforms removing the traditional barrier dividing the two.”
Park Won Woo Founder and CEO, dlturn, the original creator of The Masked Singer
“COVID-19 will change the broadcast culture in many ways. It will allow studio-oriented productions to be viewed in a different direction. I believe that it will bring about new changes in production methods, cameras, editing. I think this is a new opportunity to transform the broadcast industry. “I would like to extend my gratitude to all the medical staff sacrificing themselves in the fight against this deadly virus and I offer my sincere condolences to all those who have lost a loved one to this disease. Therefore, we should work hard to create TV shows that bring happiness to those people. I think that is our mission as creators. Accordingly, I’m developing various kinds of ideas that will surprise the world again.”
Kim Il Joong Senior director, entertainment division, SBS; executive director, FormatEast
“I BELIEVE this year has been a very tough one for everyone in this field, especially those of us who deal with the international market. We normally hold a monthly global seminar and invite international format experts for idea-development sessions. Yet, due to COVID-19, we could not invite them to be here physically. What we did was invite them to a webinar. Thanks to technology, we have already held three global webinars this year. Although it is hard to stare at the computer screen for more than seven hours, they truly were unforgettable experiences for everyone. This year’s COVID-19 crisis was quite a misfortune for the Korean market, since it was trying to launch a massive marketing campaign to support our Country Of Honour recognition at MIPTV in April. However, we have discovered various alternatives and possibilities with global partners from multiple screen-connected continents over the spring and summer. “At MIPCOM Online+, which we are also attending as the Country Of Honour, we will not find it difficult to convey our potential to the world. In fact, we are excited about the possibility of encountering a new type of online business that we have never imagined before. We Koreans are strong in crises.”
Kim Hyuk Head of SK Telecom’s 5GX media business group; leader of media strategy at SK Telecom’s broadband, fixed telecom and media subsidiaries
“COVID-19 is dramatically transforming our way of life, with fewer offline activities and more indoor activities, including working from home. We are observing a steady increase in demand for our broadband internet service, our IPTV platform B tv, our cable-TV service T-broad and our mobile-OTT service Wavve. “As it becomes harder and harder to casually go to movies, concerts or sports events, consumers are trying to fulfil their media and content-consumption needs at various online media platforms. “To cope with these changes, SK Telecom is setting three major objectives: extensive ‘ontact’ or ‘untact’ services to fully transfer offline experiences into the online arena, like live streaming of no-spectator concerts or baseball games; more investment in OTT original content to offer diverse content to consumers; and the development and upgrade of virtual-activity services based on VR, AR and MR technologies.”
Lee Tae-hyun CEO, Wavve
“THE OTT industry has benefited greatly from COVID-19. This is based on an analysis of user preference for a service that allows viewers to enjoy unlimited content at a low cost as time at home increases due to telecommuting, distance education and social distancing. However, since our Wavve platform is a monthly subscription service, increasing usage hours does not directly lead to profits. In order to increase the number of users, we are focusing on content production and marketing activities.”
