KOREA Country Of Honour
melded into Wavve. “In the long run we, as a shareholder, expect Wavve to expand MBC’s reach to younger viewers and strengthen our strategic partnerships with other shareholders, while increasing profits and share value,” Jung adds.
Wavve is exerting a positive influence on the Korean media ecosystem as it is actively making largescale investments to build its own line-up of original content Jung Hong-Dae For Tving, founding company CJ ENM plans to ride on the popularity of its existing K-drama and K-pop music productions. Future plans include working with new partner broadcaster JTBC to add original productions and international fare. “We focus on the preferences of our target audience of young female millennials and Gen-Z youth, who seek unique, exciting and new types of entertainment,” Tving’s Cho says. “Our content portfolio has been mainly composed of library shows and K-content, specifically dramas and entertainment shows that have already aired on TV channels. But we are planning to announce our first original shows very soon, as well as extend our line-up with exclusively licensed international content.” Netflix has brought the might of its well-funded quality international movies and shows to Korea. It is also going local by licensing Korean-language shows and forming co-production partnerships. Studio Dragon, a CJ ENM scripted-production subsidiary, entered into a multi-year production and distribution agreement with Netflix in November last year. Another international giant involved in the Korean streaming domain is NBCUniversal (NBCU). The Hollywood studio has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to license K-content from Content Wavve and its
broadcaster shareholders for NBCU’s US and overseas broadcast and streaming channels. If there is one country able to illustrate how new technology is likely to impact on future viewing experiences it is Korea. In addition to offering futuristic shows such as the SF8 sci-fi dramas, Wavve encourages interactive viewing via its personalised discovery service. “Shows are recommended by looking at the audience’s viewing history and individual viewing characteristics,” Lee says, adding that this personalisation technology is now being used to develop other advanced services. The country’s telecommunications groups’ hefty investment in ultra-fast high-speed 5G connectivity is equally expected to enhance the introduction of VR, AR and AI-powered on-screen experiences via streaming platforms. “The one certain thing is that many IPTV and OTT players in Korea will continue to upgrade their personalisation services,” MBC’s Jung adds. When the CJ ENM and JTBC merger in Tving is completed, the platform intends to boost the amount of data-driven personalised content on offer. Additionally, Tving plans to exploit the personalisation infrastructure to deliver what it calls Dynamic Ad Insertion. “When we offer advertisements for the free users watching live linear channels via Tving, we use a technology called Dynamic Ad Insertion,” Cho says. “In live streaming, we can replace original TV advertisements with our own, whereby we personalise ads based on users’ interests and viewing history.” The question industry observers are asking is whether Korea can support the growing number of competitors entering its local streaming sector. Many believe there are more consolidations to come. UK-based tech, media and telco analyst Paolo Pescatore of PP Foresight predicts Netflix’s presence will hasten all forms of alliances — including many with Netflix itself. “No local broadcaster or domestic video service is immune to the challenges of taking on the online giant,” he says. “Many local domestic players should do what they do best — produce the
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next blockbuster and rely on working closely with Netflix on production and distribution.” Standing out as a brand will become imperative, as Tving’s Cho points out: “We are competing against very strong players to earn consumers’ love and trust. That is why we use multiple layers of data sets to increase our targeting accuracy. This sophisticated targeting capability not only engages more viewers, but also gives better results to advertisers.”
We are competing against very strong players to earn consumers’ love and trust Young Cho
GLOBAL RIVALS NETFLIX, the world’s biggest streaming platform by both number of subscribers and investment in content, is already making waves in Korea. It entered the market in 2016, before forming an alliance in 2018 with LG U+, one of Korea’s multinational telecoms conglomerates. This gave Netflix access to LG U+’s fourmillion-plus streaming TV subscribers. Following a similar deal this year with LG U+ rival KT Corp, which has more than seven million TV customers, Netflix looks set to be a key player in Korea. Korean media coverage of a report by the Korean Film Council indicates other major international SVOD services, including Disney+ and Apple TV+ and YouTube’s advertising-funded VOD platform, are vying for a space in the increasingly competitive Korean streaming landscape.
