Starkorink "Promoting Establishment of Webtoon and Short-Form Drama Production Studio"

Starcorink, which manages the agency business for famous cartoonists such as Lee Hyun-se and Heo Young-man, as well as numerous mobile games including Yeolhyeol Gangho, announced on the 18th that it will make a full-scale entry into the webtoon production and short-form drama market.

Through its cartoonist agency business, Starcorink has utilized original IPs such as Sikgaek to conduct brand licensing businesses with Foodist and Sikjajaewang. It has also been involved in publishing projects and joint product launches with well-known convenience store brands. To create business synergy, the company is promoting the establishment of a specialized studio for webtoon production and short-form drama production based on original short-form exclusive scenarios.

Short-form dramas are characterized by short and intense story structures lasting about 1 to 2 minutes, optimized for new content consumption trends among younger generations and mobile-centric viewers. With the rapid growth of short-form content and OTT and social media platforms (TikTok, Reels, Pulsepick, Shotcha, etc.) positioning short-form dramas as key content, Starcorink’s short-form drama production business is attracting great expectations.

Starcorink plans to strengthen its content production value chain strategy by establishing a studio that produces and distributes webtoon IPs and expanding these original IPs into short-form dramas. Through this, it aims to naturally attract webtoon fandoms to short-form dramas and, conversely, expand successful short-form drama works into webtoons, web novels, animations, and more to build an IP ecosystem.

A Starcorink representative stated, “Webtoons and short-form dramas share the commonality of delivering immersive stories even within a short span,” adding, “By producing short-form dramas based on webtoon IPs, we will lead changes in content consumption patterns and continuously produce content with global competitiveness.”

Starcorink will actively develop not only webtoon-based but also original short-form IPs. Representative works include the mystery thriller "Black Box" and the romantic comedy "Tonight with the Devil," selected through a short-form drama story contest held last month. Each will showcase powerful narratives differentiated from existing short-form content by combining twist-filled, tension-maximized storytelling and trendy mukbang romance.

The company will also actively utilize new revenue models for short-form dramas. In addition to existing advertising and platform revenue sharing, it plans to generate income through various methods such as paid subscriptions, e-commerce (merchandise and brand collaborations), and license sales.

Through its short-form drama business, Starcorink plans to actively collaborate not only with major domestic platforms (Shotcha, Biglu, Pulsepick) but also with global short-form drama platforms (Reels, DramaBox, TopShort). This will help Korean-style short-form dramas expand their influence in the global market.

With this short-form drama business, Starcorink aims to evolve beyond a simple production company into an IP studio encompassing both webtoons and short-form dramas. Based on the solid stories and strong fandom of webtoons, combined with the rapid spread and global distribution power of short-form dramas, it plans to create the next-generation IP business model.