[Content Paradigm Shift]②
TV Content Transforms into Another YouTube Content
An Era of Organic Circulation Among Theaters, Broadcasting, and Online Platforms
As the saying goes, "A good soldier does not blame his weapons," platforms are no longer the 'core' consideration for content success. In the industry, there is a growing sentiment that as the influence of content itself grows stronger than platforms, competition among platform markets such as movies (theaters), YouTube, OTT, and terrestrial broadcasters has been reorganized horizontally. An era has opened where content organically circulates across platforms with different characteristics, such as terrestrial broadcasting, OTT, theaters, and SNS.
Changes in Content Consumption Patterns... Shifts in Success Trends
The commonality among recently popular contents like the movie Seoul-ui Bom (Spring in Seoul), MBC drama Yeonin (Lovers), TV variety show Taeeonan Kim-e Segye Ilju (Born to Travel the World), OTT Disney+ Moving, Netflix Jeongsinbyeongdong-edo Achimi Wayo (Morning Comes Even to the Psychiatric Ward), and YouTube series Pinggyego, Meogeul Tende, and Cheongso-gwae is that they broke away from traditional success formulas.
Prejudices such as terrestrial dramas being ignored and home-viewing movies (OTT) being of low quality have been shattered. The expectation that only provocative and violent content would succeed in the OTT world also failed. Although large-budget genre productions were concentrated on OTT platforms, many of these were critically panned and met with disappointment. On the other hand, well-made, wholesome content gained popularity even without large budgets. Complaints about the lack of audience due to declining interest in theater spaces also did not hold. Although Korean cinema lost trust, two films attracted over 10 million viewers each. The success of Seoul-ui Bom, which is neither a genre nor a series film, was driven by audiences in their teens to thirties who lead online trends.
A representative from a production company creating OTT content said, "Looking at the content loved last year, it is clear that the traditional success formula has collapsed. This has led producers to contemplate the direction to move forward."
Seeking Paths of Change... A New Dimension of Competition Opens
The content industry is engaged in a new dimension of 'strategic warfare,' exploiting the blurred boundaries between platforms. Breaking the prejudice that "terrestrial dramas are boring" and "young viewers don't watch them," MBC's most popular romance historical drama last year, Yeonin, released a summary version on its YouTube channel 20 minutes after the original broadcast. This was a case of turning what was once a headache?online summaries?into a marketing tool. Terrestrial broadcasters are also seeking paths of change.
MBC's Taeeonan Kim-e Segye Ilju, which won last year's entertainment award (Kian84), produced separate YouTube content. They extended content consumption by releasing epilogue-style videos that could not be included in terrestrial broadcasts. Additionally, they pre-released parts of the next season between seasons, teasing upcoming filming locations and increasing buzz.
The movie Seoul-ui Bom is regarded as a good example of organically connecting theaters and online platforms. Viewing certifications like the "Heart Rate Challenge" and "Anger Challenge," where viewers post photos of their elevated heart rates and stress indices before and after watching on social media (SNS), spread like a game. This steadily generated word-of-mouth and revitalized the stagnant Korean film industry. The 20s and 30s audience, who lead the online market, accounted for half of the viewers.
Another content production company representative said, "The market has been reorganized horizontally, and the viewing habits and perceptions of the public consuming platforms have changed, so content producers have realized that prejudices against platforms have been broken." He added, "Going forward, the 'strategic battle' to tailor content to consumer tastes using various platforms will intensify. While content production competition will be fierce, marketing competition to distribute and reprocess works in an era where platforms have collapsed will inevitably become intense as well. Content becomes the content of another platform, enabling diverse approaches in this era."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
