Ultra-collaboration led by K-Content... Wavve partners with NBCUniversal

K-Content Exports Over the Next 3 Years... Broadcast Through US and European Broadcasters and OTT Platforms

[Asia Economy Reporter Joeslgina] WAVVE, the largest domestic online video service (OTT) in South Korea, formed a 'super collaboration' with the global media company NBCUniversal. This alliance is evaluated as a powerful partnership to dominate the increasingly competitive domestic and global OTT markets.

Content WAVE, a joint venture of SK Telecom and the three terrestrial broadcasters (KBS, MBC, SBS), announced on the 12th that it signed a partnership with NBCUniversal focused on expanding the global content ecosystem and exporting WAVVE's original content.

NBCUniversal, a wholly owned subsidiary of Comcast, a global media and entertainment company, produces TV dramas, movies, sports content, and news, delivering them to viewers worldwide. Its business revenue in 2019 was approximately $34 billion (about 41.3 trillion KRW). It has produced well-known TV series familiar in Korea such as The Office, movies like Shrek and Minions, and distributed the Fast & Furious series.

This super collaboration was realized as the interests of SK Telecom and WAVVE, who aim to expand the Hallyu content ecosystem, aligned with NBCUniversal’s desire to proactively secure Hallyu content that has rapidly gained popularity in North America and Europe.

Under this partnership, WAVVE will supply NBCUniversal with up to five original works annually for the next three years, selected from content produced jointly with KBS, MBC, and SBS. NBCUniversal will make the final selection of distributed works considering preferences in key regions and will hold overseas distribution rights for the selected content. This enables Korean dramas to be broadcast on NBCUniversal’s U.S. terrestrial network NBC, its affiliate British Sky channel, and various distribution partners’ broadcast channels and OTT services. NBCUniversal plans to launch its OTT service Peacock across the United States as early as this month.

SK Telecom and WAVVE have secured a powerful ally in the increasingly competitive domestic and global OTT industry. This is significant as it opens a path for 'market expansion,' which is the most crucial element in the virtuous cycle of the content ecosystem that leads from market expansion to maximizing investment returns, reinvestment, and high-quality content production.

For WAVVE, this partnership is evaluated to bring three benefits: ▲strengthening OTT content and competitiveness ▲global expansion ▲establishing a foundation for increased domestic content investment. Currently, WAVVE is showcasing NBCU’s latest popular works such as Intelligence and Cobra to customers, and this collaboration is expected to further expand the range of content available to Korean viewers.

SK Telecom and WAVVE also plan to explore joint content investment and production with NBCUniversal. Considering content exports through NBCUniversal, WAVVE will invest a total of 60 billion KRW in original content production this year. WAVVE is currently co-investing and producing the science fiction (SF) film series SF8 with MBC and eight domestic film directors including Director Min Kyudong.

Since its launch in September last year, WAVVE’s paid subscribers have more than doubled within six months. SK Telecom and WAVVE are in talks with various media companies interested in the rapid subscriber growth of Hallyu and Korean OTTs, expecting the ‘global media and content super collaboration’ to grow even larger in the future.

Yu Sangyoung, Head of SK Telecom’s MNO Business Division, said, “Through this collaboration, WAVVE has laid the foundation to grow beyond Korea’s best to become a leading global OTT,” adding, “We will form a global-scale media super collaboration through SK Telecom’s 10 million media customers and Hallyu content competitiveness.”

Lee Taehyun, CEO of Content WAVE, said, “WAVVE is strengthening cooperation with global players to enhance content competitiveness,” and added, “This agreement will be an important foundation for WAVVE’s original content investment and global expansion business.”