StoryWiz Spin-off 1st Anniversary
Interview with CEO Jeon Daejin
KT Group-Level Synergy Needed for One-Source Multi-Use
More Focus on Discovering Original IP
[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] "To fully realize One Source Multi-Use (OSMU), it must succeed at the KT Group level. This year, under the direction of KT Studio Genie, we plan to focus more on discovering valuable original intellectual property (IP)."
StoryWiz, KT Group’s webtoon and web novel specialized subsidiary, is expanding its business scope beyond being a content supplier for Naver and Kakao to include distribution of secondary creations and in-house production. This year, aligned with KT CEO Koo Hyun-mo’s ‘Digital Platform Company (Digico)’ strategy, StoryWiz is seeking IPs that fit KT’s content strategy direction. It is taking on the role of the starting point in the ‘KT-style content value chain’ that connects IP discovery → investment → production → distribution.
"Establishing Business Foundations... Focus on CP Role"
We met Jeon Dae-jin, CEO of StoryWiz, which spun off last February, on the 26th of last month near Anguk Station in Seoul. With 24 years of experience in content, CEO Jeon has led changes since StoryWiz separated from KT. Over the past year, the company’s total workforce has increased by 1.5 times, and new contracts have been signed with more than 20 writers. They have increased the number of PDs leading collective creation and added three staff members responsible for distribution in China, tightening efforts to expand direct supply to China.
CEO Jeon said, "The most significant achievement over the past year was laying the foundation for StoryWiz’s business system," adding, "Turning our own webtoon and web novel platform ‘Blyce’ into a space where new writers can freely upload their work and receive coaching is also one of the meaningful steps we have taken."
The company’s core businesses are content provider (CP) operations, secondary creation distribution, and platform management. He introduced, "Rather than insisting solely on our own platform, we focus more on the CP role of connecting writers to large gateways like Naver and Kakao, where they can meet more consumers." This defines Naver and Kakao as both strong competitors and growth partners. This aligns with his usual emphasis on solidarity between platforms. A representative example is the selection of ‘Legend of Regression’ and ‘Debuff Master,’ supplied by StoryWiz, as Million Page works on KakaoPage.
This Year’s Fruits One After Another... Possibility of ‘Color Rush’ Season 2
After cultivating the groundwork over the past year, this year is the time to reap contract results. Among the webtoon and web novel IP rights held, more than ten secondary creation productions, ranging from web dramas to films with budgets in the 30 billion KRW range, are scheduled to start sequentially this year. The romance work ‘Shh, Please Take Care of That Guy’ will be reborn as a mid-form web drama of about 25 minutes per episode.
StoryWiz has also ventured into in-house production with its first completed project from webtoon original discovery, investment, and production, ‘Color Rush.’ Color Rush is a web drama based on the BL (Boy’s Love) webtoon of the same name discovered through the first Blyce contest. It gained word-of-mouth on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, where posts with the hashtag (#) Color Rush on the fan club page ‘Super Talk’ were read by over 70 million people.
CEO Jeon explained, "Color Rush is expected to comfortably surpass the break-even point once it launches in Japan this month," adding, "It ranked first in the 5-minute Korean drama ranking on Weibo, and the novel rights have been sold in Thailand and Vietnam as well." The web drama has already received requests for a second season production.
He cited ‘dynamism’ as the strength of Korean works, known as K-content. CEO Jeon evaluated, "Japan remains within the framework of an apprenticeship-style artisan culture, and China has many taboos such as sensitive political issues. Korea can break the mold, making it optimized for customers in the rapidly changing mobile environment."
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