According to the governmental agency, Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), this year’s MIPTV saw a total of 50 audiovisual companies taking part in the Korean Pavilion ‘Created by Korea’. Ranging from terrestrial TV networks to cable TV broadcasting stations, production companies and distributors, KOCCA says this is by far the largest number in the Pavilion’s history. KOCCA also noted the return of large scale dramas and documentaries. The director of mega hit MBC drama Jewel in the Palace, which has been exported to 60 countries, released his new drama Jewel in the Crown, Dong Yi. This TV biopic traces the tumultuous life of Lady Choi Sook–bin, who was born as a lowly commoner but entered the royal palace to become a royal concubine where she shone brilliantly. According to Haewon Chin, senior marketing manager, international business team at MBC, episode 25 (of 50) of the costume drama, Dong Yi recorded the highest rating 33.27 percent with the share of 46.54 percent. “This drama is already sold to several Asian countries such as Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines,” says Chin. Despite the emergence of new media, Chin notes that TV screen is still very dominant in Korea including terrestrial TV, CATV, IPTV, VOD. “Although a growing number of the younger generation are watching new media such as mobile TV, web VOD, PDP, it seems contents aimed at the elder generation such as housewife daily dramas (and) family–based dramas tend to have higher ratings compared to the contents targeting the younger generation,” said Chin. “Our documentaries also achieved very good ratings. The most recent one, Tears in Amazon, which was aired from 8 January to 5 February 2010, recorded a rating of 25.33 percent with the share 40.67 percent which is a very high rating for a documentary. Tears in Amazon was also shown in theaters, and was successful in terms of reputation and profit,” said Chin. MBC is currently selling its content to many Asian and international countries. “Because there are new media coming up in international countries, our selling rights are divided into many kinds. And also, besides drama series we now have good quality documentaries which satisfies not only the Asian audiences but also other international audiences worldwide,” explains Chin. Asked which countries buy the most Korean content, Chin states that it is hard to compare because the trend of each country is different. “For instance, costume dramas sell and rate well in Japan, young mini drama series do well in the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, while daily dramas and family dramas do well in Taiwan,” said Chin. Outside of Korea, Korean drama is still the dominant genre, but more documentaries are being sold every year, according to Chin. “Variety shows and comedies are also sold, but the cultural barrier still seems to be higher for these variety show and comedy genre. So, for the variety show and comedies we are selling the format rights so that these programs could be produced as the local contents in each international country,” says Chin. MBC’s latest big project, the drama titled, Road No.1, which began airing on 23 June 2010, is about a heartbreaking love story of two men and a woman during the Korean War time in 1950. This drama was produced and aired in commemoration of the sixtieth anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War on 25 June 1950. According to Chin, MBC has been broadcasting contents in HD for the past three years. “And while re–runs of TV content is still very popular, MBC is starting to and will have to produce the contents mainly for the mobile and internet since these new media are getting bigger and bigger,” says Chin. According to Kwon Tae–chul, senior producer, TV production department of Arirang, drama is still one of the most popular TV content, and variety programs containing entertainment factors are also getting more attention. And while TV screens in Korea are dominated by various genres of drama in the evenings, entertainment programs are more dominant on weekends. Is Korean content still as popular with Asian and international audiences? “Entertainment programs are a steady seller in Arirang TV. Also, many buyers are interested in Arirang’s new concert program, The M–Wave, as well as Pops in Seoul and Showbiz Extra,” Kwon reveals, noting that Hong Kong is currently the biggest buyer for Arirang TV. “Of late, Middle Eastern countries are showing more interests in Korea contents. In addition, some countries in South America such as Brazil have shown interest in Korean pop–music programs,” he added. Whilst Korean dramas are dominant on TV screens, Kwon says reality programs that feature Korean wave TV stars appear to receive good responses. Asked what new content will Korean producers be showcasing next, Kwon said that producers will soon place emphasis on the special HD documentaries with high production costs. SBS recently added time slots for drama serials and now telecast seven titles, 15 hours a week. This, according to SBS Contents Hub, is the biggest number among TV stations in Korea. Jae–young Choi, senior director & head of global business, SBS Contents Hub disclosed that competition among free TV stations to get good titles is growing fierce. “Drama is a key content to determine success of a TV station and a kind of standard to evaluate it. Although some entertainment shows are also doing well, most of the viewers focus their attention on drama. The reason why SBS added drama time slots is also to strengthen the competitiveness against other TV stations,” said Choi. “In addition to drama, other genres are getting popular as well. Family Outing, a SBS reality show, was sold to Taiwan and Thailand, while Live K–Pop Countdown, a concert program is aired in Hong Kong, Thailand and Cambodia,” he said, adding that entertainment shows featuring famous Korean stars like TVXQ and Super Junior are also gaining popularity in Asia. According to Choi, Japan is still the biggest market for Korean drama serials. “In the past, the main audience in Japan was usually women over their 40’s. But the success of Korean historical dramas broadened the range of audience by attracting male viewers,” he revealed. Choi noted that the second market for Korean content is Taiwan. “Actually the Taiwan market was slightly going down. But it has been recovered by the success of soap operas like SBS’ Cruel Temptation,” he said. Asked about the new markets buying and screening Korean content, Choi disclosed that in addition to success in Asia, Korean content is exploring new markets like the Middle East, Africa and South America. SBS is currently producing big budget new drama serials. Big Man, starring Kwon Sang–woo, and My Girl friend is Gumiho, starring Lee Seung–ki will be produced soon. Also in the pipeline is Athena, which is the sequel to Iris. Asked about the impact of HD and new media on Korean content production, Choi said there has been a big change in the internet business. “Finally free TV station and P2P web sites have reached to agreement to impose a charge on downloading service from P2P and share its revenue. According to this agreement, P2P sites started sharing their revenue with TV stations from February 2010,” he said. KBS’s recent top rating programs are the weekend drama Three Brothers and daily drama Happiness in the Wind, with viewership ratings of over 35 percent and 21 percent respectively. In addition, entertainment program Happy Sunday rates over 20 percent steadily, while KBS News 9 continues to outweigh all the news programs in Korea, with ratings of over 17 percent. KBS’s weekend show which achieved the highest rating in the previous six months is Happy Sunday – Two Days and One Night. Aired on January 24, it rated a high 41.9 percent.This variety show features the stories and episodes of six guys, including Kang Hodong, known as Korea’s best entertainer, as they travel to numerous famous and unknown places in Korea for two days. KBS’s most popular drama in the first half of this year include the weekend drama Three Brothers which ended its run in mid–June, and the mini–series The Slave Hunters, which was aired from January to March. KBS notes that The Slave Hunters is one of their most outstanding dramas. This drama is about a slave’s longing to be treated as a human being and about the slave hunters who are chasing after this slave. A bloody match is being run, between Daegil, the best slave hunter verses Taeha, an ex–honored general. This drama also depicts the triangular romance amongst the two men and a woman, Hyewon. The rating of the last episode of The Slave Hunters, aired on March 25, was 35.9 percent. Currently, KBS World is available in 71 countries including USA, Japan and China. The number of households is approximately 45 million. According to Oh–Suk Kwon, director, content business office, KBS World, there are regular viewers in Asian countries like Japan, China, Taiwan, Thailand and Hong Kong. Nevertheless, KBS is trying to expand its influence further across Europe, US, Russia, and Arabian states. Asked about the variations in the popularity of programs across the various territories, Kwon said, “We had successful sales in Japan for romantic dramas, as Japanese female viewers became deeply fond of such TV genre. Our experience tells us that American viewers like to watch oriental epic dramas. Amongst them, Korean epic drama is one of their favorites. They are curious about the tradition and culture of Korea, in relation to its history. As for Chinese audiences, they love to see KBS’s weekend dramas because these dramas mainly unfold stories about loves amongst family members throughout various generations, excluding pure lust/love between young lovers. Viewers from the Middle East seem to appreciate historical dramas, such as Emperor of the Sea. And most buyers and broadcasters from South–East Asia prefer romantic comedies ranging from Full House up to even authentic melodramas.” Amongst KBS’s best sellers are the dramas, The Great Merchant, an epic drama which was aired from March to June, Becoming a Billionaire, a romantic comedy which ended its run in early June, Happy Sunday–Two days and One Night and the Music Bank, a weekly music show, is also popular as it is backed by the famous K–pops. According to Kwon, the recent deal with drama, The Great Merchant at MIPTV 2010 in April was significant. The epic drama was made based on the biography of Manduk, a successful woman from the Jeju, and such was sold across Japan and Taiwan with a record as high as ever amongst KBS historical dramas. Kwon added that Becoming a Billionaire was also a good deal, as it was also sold widely across Japan, Taiwan, Philippines and Indonesia for a good price. Under the format distribution agreement with KBS, several TV production companies in the US, China and Indonesia are making a pitch for KBS format dramas to each country’s TV stations. Kwon states that until now, the format business of KBS is at the root level. “We sold the license to remake KBS dramas to Japan, China, Vietnam, and the Philippines. In addition, we made a contract with William Morris Endeavor to facilitate format deals in the USA. Most format buyers show keen interests on the unique story lines of Korean dramas and on their distinguishing formats of the entertainment shows. In other words, lately, formats of some quiz shows and marital dramas seem to increasingly attract foreign broadcasters,” he said. And what of the challenges facing Korean TV dramas? “The increase in production costs stands as a burden to the broadcasters. It is mainly because of the high guarantee given to the actors and actresses, and the writers’ fee. This phenomenon could affect the quality of the dramas dramatically. KBS, as the only public service broadcaster, is trying to solve this in many ways. While we still use the ‘star’ actors/actresses, we also try to discover new and talented actors/actresses and writers to reduce the production cost. Also, we try to start producing the dramas earlier, by preparing more scripts in advance to manage time more wisely,” said Kwon.