Forget a parade of stars – at the 9th International Busan Content Market, the venue was full of creative minds from executive producers, directors, creative talents to format specialist across the globe. The annual Korean content bazaar saw strong international participation from 554 companies representing 45 nations.
Attended by more than 2,000 buyers and sellers over three days, the market recorded US$93.57 million of sales and signing of memorandums of new initiatives. As production budget gets squeezed globally, local governments with an eye to the value a production can bring to an area are devising ways to persuade productions to choose them.
The market also witnessed a surge in small and medium content business enterprises that have proven themselves through the sales of animation, documentaries and content for UHD and mobile.
Marketing and creative talents were out in force to promote new titles, bringing with them powerful slate of talent to endorse at Busan. Although there wasn’t any formal red carpet entrance, the Korean starts were present everywhere on posters, banners and handouts.
The strength of Korea’s local production scene is now a well-documented trend. That’s the general consensus among international distributors, who are increasingly being forced to re-think ways of selling into a country fully self-sufficient in programming. Korea is probable the next largest producer of TV drama in the world, behind the U.S. and Turkey. The nation is consistently churning out high-end, big-budget series such as SBS’s A Girl Who See Smells, Divorce Lawyer in Love, KBS’s The Producers, Who Are You, JTBC’s Beating Again, More than a Maid, MBC’s Jungmyung, the Princess of Light, Angry Mom, Making of Cry, CJ E&M’s Hogu’s Love, Let’s Eat, Ex-Girlfriends’ Club – far more relevant to its audience than anything coming out of Hollywood.
The Korean production scene has been buoyant for some time, but how has the boom affected the demand for imported programming, and what slots remain open for distributors? “There are firstrun opportunities in Korea for distributors of drama from the UK, the US or other places, but on pay television and digital channels,” explained TI ComNet’s International Manager, Mio Jevons. “It’s very unlikely they will be on the big free-to-air (FTA) channels, though. There are not too many FTA channels in Korea, but for most parts they are commissioning local content. There are exceptions but the big FTAs are making their own stuff.” Mio believes some FTA broadcasters’ secondary channels, including those operated by state run can provide a way in for distributors selling finished content. She was generally satisfied with the market as she did not expect so many western participants at the event. Turn Box’s Head of Content, Victor William said, “It is a great place to source for Korean content as all the major Korean broadcasters are here as well as many international companies for distribution sales”.
Turn Box is a leading provider of next generation in-flight entertainment and connectivity solution provider from Malaysia, founded by Air Asia Group.
MIP Academy made its debut at the content market with a focus on TV Formats organised by Reed MIDEM. The conference and screening solely focused on creating formats for global audience (international potential) and successfully exporting them. An international panel of key note speakers included Avi Armoza – Founder and President of Avi Armoza, Ted Baracos -Development Director of Reeds MIDEM, Iijoong Kim – Executive Director of SBS and Jinwoo Hwang – Head of Formats at CJ E&M. Audience got the chance to hear from the experts how to scout for format ideas and prepare them for international market with several screenings to entice the serious participants.
Over the past fifteen years, and especially in the late 2000s, Korean television dramas have been able to find an increasing number of platforms to be viewed by a growing foreign fan base: first in South East Asia, then in the U.S. and Latin American (DramaFever, Hulu) and more recently in Europe (Viki, DramaFever, DramaPassion). However, although that fan base was still growing, the growth has been showing signs of a slowdown (especially compared to the early years of “K-drama golden age”) – probably due to cultural differences that hindered a mainstream appreciation in western countries.
However, in the past few months, a new trend has emerged with strength. In February 2014, while foreign media were focused on the upcoming Korean adaptation of hit Israeli drama Prisoners of War (also known as Homeland in the U.S.), CJ E&M was striking major format deals with broadcasters in Latin America and Europe. In April, the emergence of Korean TV formats on the global stage became a widely recognised within the industry.
Yet, Korean format sales were not something unheard of before. The trend took off with Japan’s Asahi TV remaking MBC drama Hotelier – starring Hallyu icon Bae Yong-joon (Winter Sonata) – for an April 2007 premiere. However, other countries had started remaking Korean dramas a bit earlier. Indonesia’s RCTI was the first to do so in late 2005 with Autumn in My Heart, which Philippines’ GMA Network (2010) and Thailand’s Channel 8 (2013) remade too. RTCI followed up with SBS’ My Girl in 2006, also remade for Filipino (ABS-CBN, 2008) and Taiwanese (JSTV, 2011) audiences. RCTI was also involved in the Indonesian remake of MBC’s My Lovely Sam-soon in 2007, and GMA Network in the 2008 Filipino remake.
Entertainment TV shows formats were actually the first to be exported, with KBS’ Star Golden Bell format going to China’s CCTV in 2004. However, they have not taken off until recently.
Using formats instead of finished programmes, Korean networks tried to break into the U.S. market early on. Indeed, in 2007, Dong-A Ilbo mentions that KBS was negotiating a U.S. remake for Happy Together (2001) with New Line TV (now part of Warner Bros) and three other shows with top agency William Morris Agency, while MBC was also trying to sell U.S. format rights for Infinite Challenge (2005). Results of these negotiations remain unseen.
As Korean broadcasters embraced format sales as a new source of revenues, one market is seen as a first step before reaching out to the international market: China. Indeed, as the Chinese audiovisual market rose to be the 2nd largest worldwide, it has become an unavoidable option for Korean shows to boost both their revenues and reputation. Once their success is proven, Korean formats can then use the acquired notoriety to expand to more reluctant markets, especially in the west.
A close business partner of CJ Entertainment & Media, the Shanghai Media Group (SMG) has also been a strong supporter of Korean TV formats. Starting with the Super Diva reality show in 2012 on its Entertainment Channel, the group found success with Korean version of Grandpas Over Flowers and its spin-off Sisters Over Flowers on Dragon TV and just launched the Chinese remake – as announced in March on Hankooki.com. Other broadcasters have also acquired successful formats, such as Hunan TV which adapted Dad! Where Are We Going? from MBC with tremendous success. Like Dragon TV with Grandpa Over Flowers, Hunan TV scored its highest ratings ever (4.57% in a market crowded by 40+ major TV stations). That success has generated a definite hunger for Korean formats in China, which Korean broadcasters try to feed. With entertainment formats, Korean dramas have also become extremely popular there (My Love from the Star) and Chinese broadcasters have started acquiring rights for remakes. Heirs is probably the first of a long series, with its Chinese adaptation in production since February.
Although three big networks initiated the new wave for Korean TV formats, it is CJ E&M which is now both leading and benefiting the most from a great revival of interest in Korean television contents and concepts.
There might be some plagiarism issues to address with South East Asian countries hungry for Korean storylines. Indeed, on April 28, it was revealed by TVReport.co.kr that RCTI, the Indonesian public broadcaster, premiered a local TV drama almost identical to SBS’ My Love from the Star. It would seem that Chinese broadcasters are not the only one sometimes still playing deaf to copyright infringements.
