Executives at CJ ENM, South Korea’s largest media and leisure group, pledged on Friday to take a position greater than 1 billion gained ($750 million) yearly in content material.
“We nonetheless consider in Korean content material,” group CEO Yoon Sang-hyun mentioned at an occasion held through the Busan Worldwide Movie Pageant. “By retaining KRW 1 billion in content material funding and leveraging the insights we now have accrued throughout international studios, theaters and OTT platforms, CJ ENM will work to enhance the numbers of the movie trade.”
Yin and different executives on the group tried to sound optimistic concerning the long-term way forward for the enterprise whereas acknowledging critical near-term headwinds.
Yoon famous that challenges embody continued weak point in theater field workplace in South Korea (and elsewhere), modifications within the streaming trade, audiences’ shift towards short-form video consumption, and potential disruption from synthetic intelligence.
“We’ve got made the biggest content material funding of any firm in Korea, and we’re dedicated to additional development,” Yoon mentioned.
He didn’t elaborate on the numbers between the totally different divisions, nor did he differentiate between content material developed by the group or TV reveals produced for purchasers by its large TV manufacturing unit, Studio Dragon. Trade sources say CJ ENM’s funding in function movies is now considerably decrease than it was a number of years in the past.
However absolute numbers could not matter as Yin and others search to emphasise broader use of content material and have growth throughout the group’s various distribution pipeline. “We’ve got seen that some films that have been disappointing in theaters carried out very effectively on OTT,” mentioned Cho Jin-ho, head of the home enterprise unit of CJ-CGV, the exhibition unit.
The resistance is a number of. Search engine marketing Jang-ho, head of content material enterprise, mentioned: “Manufacturing prices have doubled since earlier than the COVID-19 outbreak. All TV channels are dealing with declining promoting income, making it tougher to fee new packages. And abroad gross sales There isn’t any solution to shut this hole.
Lee Dong-hyun, head of enterprise innovation at CGV, mentioned: “Within the movie area, we now have now solely accomplished 60% of the enterprise peak. The restoration could be very gradual. Though there are blockbuster movies, the efficiency of mid-tier movies has declined considerably. This makes us Actual worries about subsequent 12 months and the long run.
Choi Ju-hui, head of Tving, a streaming platform led by CJ ENM, mentioned the platform has caught up with Netflix within the Korean market. “Presently we’re solely centered on 5% person development prospects. We have to take into account increasing subscribers and income, and meet the wants of latest customers, resembling including stay baseball (KBO).
Jang Kyung-ik, who just lately took over Studio Dragon, mentioned: “Once I joined, I stored listening to the phrase ‘disaster.’ Certainly, the variety of long-form packages we produce has elevated from 120 in 2022 to 105 final 12 months. division and 96 this 12 months. However I believe we’re now regular at about 100 a 12 months.
The audio system gave a number of examples of content material utilization innovation and cross-platform growth. The TV present “Spice Our Love” is on the market in numerous rated variations on on-line TV and R-rated TV streaming. Some episodes of one other present, Bloody Fortunate Day, premiered at CGV Cinemas a number of days earlier than airing on TV.
“After a decade of steady development within the movie enterprise, we at the moment are in a special setting,” mentioned Jerry Ko, the group’s head of movie. “We’re studying learn how to focus and goal our investments and work to take our movies international.”
Headlining movies and TV collection in 2025 embody: Park Chan-wook’s ongoing function movie “No Alternative”; “Bugonia,” Yorgos Lanthimos’ remake of the 2003 CJ movie “Saving the Blue Planet”; and the collection adaptation of the movie “Made within the Sky.”
Patrick Flatt
