Korean dramas push cultural content exports beyond $10 billion
Hee-kyung Kim
Aug 10, 2020 (Gmt+09:00)
Korean dramas are becoming a worldwide phenomenon as they rise steadily to become one of Korea's major exports - even in countries that harbor anti-Korean sentiment and where Asian content faces higher entry barriers.
In 2019, Korean cultural content exports posted $10.3 billion (approximately 12.4 trillion won), an 8.1% increase from 2018. It was the first time for such exports to exceed $10 billion, posting almost double the volume from the $5.27 billion posted in 2014.
TvN Drama 'Hotel del Luna'
The cross-border collaboration will remake the supernatural-romance drama "Hotel del Luna" (tvN) into an American TV series. TvN is a Korean entertainment network owned by CJ E&M.
“This is the first time for a Korean production to co-develop and produce a TV series with a well-known US production,” said a source from CJ ENM. “We are moving away just selling or formatting content,” the source pointed out.
Also, there are signs that China’s ban on the Korean wave (hallyu: global popularity of Korean culture, media, entertainment) will loosen soon, fueling prospects for increased returns during the second half of the year.
“At least 15 Korean dramas are estimated to bring in a total of around 90 billion won (approx. $75 million) in copyright fees once China’s ban on Korean content eases,” said Ki-hoon Lee, an analyst at Hana Financial Investment.
Korean dramas are spreading fast amid the Covid-19 crisis. Global OTT services including Netflix have played a key role in Korean drama’s global ascension as it provided overseas viewers easy access by premiering content to 190 countries at once.
“Korean dramas are receiving much love and global OTTs are finding it important to secure Korean content,” said Hyung-jin Ryu, the head of business strategy at Studio Dragon, the creator of popular Korean dramas. He added, “We’re expanding our Korean drama portfolio to beef up our presence in Japan and in Southeast Asian markets, which have hiked up copyright fees.”
TvN Drama 'It's Okay to Not Be Okay'
Korean dramas are also rising to the top in the Southeast Asian market. In Vietnam, five Korean dramas were in the top 10, including the latest “It’s Okay to Not Be Okay,” “Crash Landing on You,” and “Was it Love.” Even older dramas are climbing the charts in Vietnam, such as the 2009 drama “Boys Over Flowers” and the 2015 drama “Reply 1988,” which came in fifth and sixth, respectively.
“Korean dramas are superb at providing an entertaining storyline and unraveling it through unique storytelling methods,” said Ryu from Studio Dragon. “It offers a perfect mixture of various genres as well as a new take.”