South Korean governmental agency Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), which oversees and coordinates the promotion of the Korean content industry, is this week showcasing new content from the country via C21 Digital Screenings, while general director Dohyoung Lee gives his analysis of the international boom in K-content.
Exports of South Korean television content have been on a steady upward curve ever since the early days of the Korean Wave almost 20 years ago, when dramas like KBS2’s 2002 hit Winter Sonata made such an impact on the global market.
Fast forward to today and more of the world is watching even more K-content. Just look at some of the biggest US shows in recent years. ABC’s adaptation of another KBS2 series, The Good Doctor, was the only global hit coming out of the 2017/18 season in the US. And on the unscripted side, the global success of talent show The Masked Singer has been a phenomenon over the past two years, following its debut on Fox in the US in 2019.
Dohyoung Lee, general director at the Broadcasting Division of KOCCA, is certain these two recent K-content hits have driven demand for more programming from South Korea.
I Can See Your Voice
“The Good Doctor has definitely been a big success, with its fourth season so far on ABC in the US. The show changed preconceptions in the US about Korean dramas and adapting them locally. Following The Good Doctor, some other K-dramas are now being developed for the US market, such as Sky Castle [aka Tribeca] from JTBC, which is being developed for NBC, and Live from CJ ENM, which is being developed for Fox,” says Lee.
In the unscripted space, MBC talent show hit The Masked Singer “has dominated the world,” he adds. “It has been adapted in about 30 countries and there seem to be more in the pipeline. Singing format I Can See Your Voice, from CJ ENM, has also launched on Fox recently and keeps winning the top ratings position against other shows in the same time period. It has also been commissioned by BBC1 in the UK and RTL in Germany.”
The success of The Masked Singer has certainly led to other local adaptations of the format in other countries, as well as helping the Fox commission for I Can See Your Voice, the KOCCA exec adds. “I have heard that there are now lots of proposals to adapt Korean formats, even paper formats, from Western territories, including the US, UK, Germany, the Netherlands and elsewhere.”
The Whale Road
These recent format hits come after previous deals for K-formats such as Grandpas Over Flowers, which was successfully adapted as Better Late Than Never by NBC in the US in 2016, and the international productions of Korean formats such as Running Man, Show Me the Money, Oops! We Forgot Your Order and The Genius Game, among many others.
So the global demand for K-content, whether it’s scripted drama or unscripted formats, is by no means new but is certainly having a big moment this year, as Mipcom Online+ celebrated South Korea as Country of Honour. The Korean TV industry even survived a dip in export figures due to the Chinese ban on Korean content in 2016 by finding new markets for its programming and formats in places like Turkey, Latin America, the US and Europe.
A delve into the KOCCA export data illustrates this point. Total exports of TV content, including formats and DVDs, stood at US$309m in 2013, rose to US$336m in 2014, dipped to US$320 the following year and jumped to US$411.2m in 2016. After the Chinese ban, the figures dipped to US$362.4m in 2017 but then soared to US$478.4m in 2018, the latest year for KOCCA data, as those new markets were reached.
Longing Heart
But even without the data for 2019 and 2020 being available yet, one can safely assume that the numbers will be up, thanks to formats like The Masked Singer and I Can See Your Voice travelling so much during this period. South Korea’s prowess in unscripted formats is not the only factor driving demand for K-content, however. The rise of OTT over the past few years has further boosted demand and the global profile of K-content, according to Lee.
“We can also see some global K-drama hits on Netflix these days. Kingdom, for example, was the streamer’s first Korean original series and is now also famous all over the world, while Crash Landing on You was ranked in the top 10 on Netflix in the US last March. The tvN show became a huge success in Japan and all over the Asia region as well. Itaewon Class, from JTBC and Netflix, was also a sensation in Asia,” he adds.
“The type of drama that is being exported is changing because of the OTT platforms. Korean broadcasters and producers now don’t need to sell their dramas to other countries if Netflix buys it. Netflix pays enough money so that these companies can recoup their costs and achieve a profi. Netflix gives us a chance to distribute Korean TV series all over the world, including territories we have never reached before.”
The Honeybee Crisis
Despite the growing popularity of K-content in the US and Europe, the biggest market for Korean TV series is nevertheless somewhat closer to home, according to Lee. “Japan has the highest demand for South Korean TV series. As of 2018, exports to Japan were US$95.78m, which accounts for 34.6% of the total programming exports, marking a 16.9% increase over the previous year,” he says.
“The reason why Japan has the highest demand for South Korean TV series is that, first of all, there is similar cultural background between the two nations. Furthermore, with the overall development of TV series in Korea, the quality of Korean content, such as drama, reality shows and documentaries, has improved and thereby has gained popularity in Japan.”
To extend the Korean Wave further, KOCCA is this week showcasing 21 companies and their shows on C21’s Digital Screenings. Some highlights of the playlist include AK Entertainment’s Halloween thriller Fanfare, K-pop reality series Oh My Girl’s Miracle Expedition from Ava Entertainment, Bethel Global Media Company’s natural history series The Whale Road and Channel A’s romance Lie After Lie.
Fate and Furies
Also on the playlist are CJ ENM’s physical gameshow Cash Back, developed with leading US prodco Bunim/Murray Productions, Companyaent’s romance drama Longing Heart, documentary The Honeybee Crisis from Daehan Mediaworld and EBS’s look at Korean wildlife, History of the Wild.
JTBC’s murder mystery drama Graceful Friends is also in the mix, alongside astronomy doc 23.5 from KBS Media, romantic drama Fate & Furies from King Content, musical competition Oh My Partner from MBC and quizshow format Koreigners from MBC Plus.
The list of companies in KOCCA’s K-content showcase on C21 Digital Screenings this week reflects some major changes in the kinds of companies exporting programming from South Korea these days. Four or five years ago, the main exporters were the distribution arms of terrestrial broadcasters such as MBC, KBS and SBS, since they were the ones commissioning most of the programming.
More recently, however, these companies have been joined by the distribution arms of cable and satellite broadcasters like CJ ENM, JTBC and Channel A, which have enjoyed huge growth over the past three years as international demand for K-content soars. CJ ENM has even cemented its position in global distribution by acquiring Sweden-based distributor Eccho Rights in 2018.
Over the same period, another change has also been seen in that a number of South Korean independent production companies have begun retaining rights to their productions and have started distributing them to international buyers directly. This has created a much more diverse and vibrant South Korean programming export industry driven by terrestrials, the cabsat sector and independent companies.
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