From Studio Genie to ENA, the KT media chains are working hard to find the 'second Woo Young-woo'.
On the morning of the 18th, KT Group Media Day was held at Novotel Ambassador in Seoul. Kook-Hyun Kang, CEO of KT's Customer Division, Cheol-Yeon Kim, CEO of Studio Genie, and Yong-Pil Yoon, CEO of ENA attended the press conference.
The meeting was designed as a place to introduce the sustainable growth strategies of Genie TV with TV subscribers, Studio Genie, a content producer, and Cable TV ENA, a pay-TV operator. In response, CEO Kang Kook-hyun introduced a new all-in-one set-top box, CEO Kim Cheol-yeon introduced Studio Genie's drama lineup, and CEO Yoon Yong-pil introduced ENA's drama and entertainment lineup. About the new set-top box, President Kang Kook-hyun said, "It was developed by KT engineers over a year ago, and it is Korea's first set-top box, router, and sound bar all-in-one model." Through this, you can enjoy high-quality content supplied by Studio Genie and ENA with optimal picture and sound quality. Furthermore, it was interpreted that KT would lead the domestic content production through Studio Genie, supply through ENA, and even appreciate technology through KT.
Representative Kim Chul-yeon said, "In the first year since the release of the first lineup, we have presented 12 works, starting with 'There is no Goo Pil-soo' and ending with 'Bora! Deborah.' There was a small achievement. What most people remember is 'Strange Lawyer Woo Young-woo.' Then he continued with 'Battle of Happiness', 'Recruit 2', 'Tell me I love you', 'Day of Kidnapping', 'House with a Yard', 'Oh! Introducing lineups such as 'Young Shim', 'Namnam', 'The Moon That Rises During the Day', 'I've Waited For You For A Long Time', 'Wicked Biography', 'Flowers Bloom Even In The Sand', 'Your Honor', 'Naughty Photo Studio' and showed confidence.
CEO Yoon Yong-pil said, "It's been a year since the founding of the country with the interest, affection, and love of many people. Looking back on the past year, I think I can pick four representative contents. 'Strange Lawyer Woo Young-woo, who made ENA a national brand at once. ', the beginning of hyper-reality entertainment and now ENA's representative entertainment, 'I'm Solo', based on this, 'Global Bull World Tour' experimented with PD Kim Tae-ho, taking three YouTube trip leaders, Kwak Tube, Panni Bottle, and Wonji, and global He added, "As a result of a recent Nielsen Korea survey, the percentage of viewers in 2049 was the highest in Korea.".
Furthermore, he said, "We are trying to further expand win-win with external creators." As seen in 'I'm Solo' and 'Global Fire World Tour', by sharing IP with external creators, original content can grow further and achieve a 'win-win' effect. I want to do that,” he added. Among them, in addition to the drama, he emphasized that he is putting efforts into the entertainment lineup, including another work with PD Kim Tae-ho, a documentary about climate anomalies, 'The Future Seen from the Sky'.
Among these growth strategies, how does the KT Group internally view the performance of the media value chain? President Kang Kook-hyun said, "We have exceeded 4.2 trillion won in sales. It feels like we are going a little faster than our goal. We think we will easily achieve 5 trillion won in sales by 2025. The key is content. Since self-produced content is also broadcast, I think that part will become much bigger. About 30 original contents will be provided to you by next year." "The box office predictive model continues to evolve. We are using the predictive model from the stage of drama, planning, and deliberation. We are making it a little more universal so that external agencies and production companies can use our model." said.
Regarding the fact that Studio Genie achieved a surplus in its second year and showed remarkable results, CEO Kim Cheol-yeon said, “I think it is the result of the business model planned while planning the media value chain centered on Studio Genie in the beginning. It is proof that KT Group's media value chain worked well." In addition, he said, “We are showing better growth than planned as overseas sales are increasing a little faster than we thought. We are aiming for an average of 30 contents per year. As for the investment cost, it seems that the investment will be made more than we thought. We are trying to show that the goal of operating profit and sales continues to grow." "Regarding the merger of TVing and Season, it is meaningful for content operators CJ and KT to collaborate after equity investment with CJ ENM. We are discussing creating a global joint masterpiece together. As soon as tangible results come out I will tell you,"
Apart from the growth of KT Group's media chain, Korea's pay-TV market is not optimistic. In response, President Kang Kook-Hyun said, "Currently, all pay-TV operators in Korea are struggling. It is a global phenomenon. However, I think Korea is enduring it. The overall market is not declining. It is only slowing down. It is moving in the direction of increasing per capita revenue, which maintains sales growth rather than overall subscriber growth. What is difficult in paid broadcasting is the business structure. It's not serious," he said. Rather, he joked, "The most important thing is that the population is declining. The biggest risk factor is that young friends don't get married. The biggest risk for paid broadcasters is that they don't get married."
Netflix also announced plans to expand domestic content investment. What kind of opportunity did this work for Studio Genie? CEO Kim Cheol-yeon said, "Netflix said they would increase investment, but it is encouraging for a studio like us. However, we are pursuing a contract with Netflix on a content-by-content basis. We are talking about some of the works in the lineup. How much will be invested here? It's hard to say. It's hard to tell you because the percentage of Netflix content this year has not been confirmed. As for our overseas sales strategy, we believe that being completely dependent on global OTT can be a risk factor in the long run as a studio. For overall sales, we set 50% of sales to global OTT and 50% of sales to local channels, which we call regional deals. I think it's a way to respond when the market changes rapidly in any situation."
In addition, he said, “After ‘Woo Young-woo’ continued to rise and hit the jackpot, people around me were really worried. Isn't it a bit of a genre work with the main character one-top, so I didn't immediately expect a post-Woo Young-woo to come out? However, I think that every work will be a post-Woo Young-woo, and I'm doing my best. 'House with a yard' or 'Happy Battle' are a bit. The target is different, but I think it's Woo Young-woo for each post. I think the time will come at the right time for Studio Genie's IPO. It's hard to say how many years."
CEO Yoon Yong-pil said, “The portfolio was reorganized through the merger of Media Genie and SkyTV. ENA was grown as an upper channel. The result seems to be the background for ENA's ratings to rise from 24th to 11th. In terms of sales, the conflict between overlapping advertisers was resolved by integrating the advertising organizations of both sides. By recruiting great external advertising experts and creating greater synergy, it seems that we have seen growth even in difficult advertising branding situations. Producer Kim Tae-ho tries a lot of experimental content. He is trying to go global with Earth Mabul. He is trying to develop a related IP. Hyemi-ri Yechaepa also started with the idea that the reason why they recruited global idols would be interested in the global platform due to the halo effect. A few platforms are interested, but it's in the early stages."
In addition, CEO Kim Chul-yeon said, "There are companies that are discussing co-production overseas. We are discussing mainly with American and Japanese companies. It is a stage where we are exchanging and discussing specific IPs, but I will let you know when the IP is finalized and the schedule comes out."
On the other hand, CEO Yoon Yong-pil said, "Out of entertainment, the content I want to watch with interest is high interest in climate change, and there are unusual weather conditions in May, and El Niño is coming quickly, so ENA created content that sends a heavy message. This is the future I have seen. I ask you to show interest and love because I am giving you a message that will make you think about the upcoming future and you will have an opportunity to go global.”
Lastly, CEO Kim Chul-yeon said, "Every day, the expected work changes. I can't choose one because I have so much affection, story, and attachment to each work. It didn't feel like this was someone else's business," he concluded the meeting with a smile.