"Luxury Performance Live Broadcast at Home, U+tv Is Alive"

LG Uplus VOD Sourcing Operations Team Interview
'Mozart Week' Followed by Exclusive Broadcast of Musical 'Myeongseong Hwanghu'
Coexisting with the Performing Arts Industry Amid COVID Crisis Through New Revenue Models

Chae Woo-seon, Senior Manager, Lee Yong-seong, Team Leader, and Hong Ji-seon, Senior Staff, who work in the LG Uplus VOD Sourcing Operations Team, are smiling brightly.

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] "Mozart Lives!"

Rolando Villaz?n, Artistic Director of the Mozarteum Salzburg, emphasized that Mozart, who passed away 230 years ago, remains a fresh and exciting experience, encouraging everyone to enjoy it together during the ‘Mozart Week’ online performance exclusively released in Korea last month by LG Uplus. This performance attracted attention as world-renowned pianist Seong-Jin Cho premiered Mozart’s previously unreleased piece, ‘Allegro in D Major.’

As the time spent at home increased due to COVID-19, the thirst for new content grew stronger than ever. There are those who are running around to quench this thirst. The LG Uplus VOD Sourcing Operations Team stated in an interview with Asia Economy on the 26th that they are focusing on supplying content that can provide diverse viewing experiences to customers spending most of their time at home.

The world premiere of Mozart’s unreleased piece is one of the efforts to deliver living content freshly into homes. Since COVID-19 became widespread last year, the VOD Sourcing Operations Team has introduced about 150 online performances. This year, following Mozart Week, they will exclusively broadcast live the 25th-anniversary performance of the famous original musical Myeongseong Hwanghu on the 27th and 28th.

Found New Revenue Model Through Performance Video Production

The VOD Sourcing Operations Team supplies various content such as movies, performing arts, and kids’ programs to U+tv and U+Mobile TV, and also handles programming tasks like deciding timing and methods. Recently, they have been aggressively increasing the supply of content that transforms performing arts into video. As offline audience attendance became difficult due to COVID-19, the performing arts industry’s need to discover new revenue models aligned with the VOD Sourcing Operations Team’s need to supply fresh content. Chae Woo-sun, the person in charge of performing arts content in the team, said, “Previously, many cases were limited to archival footage,” adding, “Since COVID-19, the performing arts industry has been deeply considering revenue models, leading to more attempts to video-record performances than before.”

The turning point was ‘Daehangno Live.’ Daehangno Live is a service by LG Uplus that provided one representative Daehangno performance weekly for six months starting May last year, filming performances without audiences and broadcasting them. Chae expressed satisfaction, saying, “Although we experienced trial and error such as re-filming, Daehangno Live became well-known as a starting point for our various attempts,” and “Since then, proposals have come to us first.”

Team Leader Lee Yong-sung explained, “The strategy is to secure representative works and spread the service through word of mouth among enthusiasts.” The exclusive broadcast of the 25th-anniversary performance of the musical Myeongseong Hwanghu, the first Korean original musical to enter Broadway in the U.S. and West End in the U.K., is also part of this strategy. More than nine broadcast cameras will be deployed with various effects to deliver the vibrancy of the performance directly.

"Movies Face Difficulty in Securing New Releases Due to Few Theatrical Openings"

Unlike the smooth supply of performing arts content, movie content supply is facing relative difficulties. Due to the prolonged slump in theaters caused by COVID-19, blockbuster films are not appearing in the market as much as before. Senior staff member Hong Ji-sun, in charge of movie content, expressed regret, saying, “From a profitability perspective, production companies require theatrical release first, but due to circumstances like the prolonged COVID-19 situation, releases have been postponed,” adding, “When theatrical releases decrease, IPTV, which acquires secondary rights, also has fewer movies to supply.”

Team Leader Lee also lamented, “Although IPTV performance increased last year, the movie sector struggled due to the lack of new releases,” and “Because theatrical releases are so few, paid broadcasting operators are currently providing subsidies to encourage releases in March.” The increasing number of domestic and international OTTs producing original content or signing exclusive contracts also poses a challenge for the sourcing team. Lee said, “The emergence of new OTTs means increased demand for content purchases, which could raise prices,” adding, “It is difficult for us who need to purchase and provide various movies.”

Given the difficulty in supply, there is also deep consideration on how to effectively provide already secured movies. Senior staff member Hong said, “The film industry itself is experiencing a crisis, and with increasing competitors, we feel the market is changing on both supply and demand sides,” adding, “We will focus on organizing secured movies to make selection easier and expanding options based on customers’ preferred genres, recency, and box office success.”

Chae Woo-seon, Senior Manager, Lee Yong-seong, Team Leader, and Hong Ji-seon, Senior Staff, who work in the LG Uplus VOD Sourcing Operations Team, are smiling brightly.

"Differentiating Content Through Constant Attempts"

The VOD Sourcing Operations Team plans to continue focusing on finding differentiation points for each content. Team members cited “many new attempts” as LG Uplus’s competitive edge. Constant attempts, such as going out to Daehangno, are creating prototypes of new content. Chae said, “Content like ‘Kids’ Country Book Reading TV’ and Daehangno Live were first initiated by us, and they have influenced other companies’ content, which is meaningful.”

Team Leader Lee said, “By considering differentiated content, unique and exclusive content has been created,” adding, “We will continue to maintain a well-rounded content lineup and build on it with differentiated content.”