Bae Jeonghyun, Head of Global Business at SAMG Entertainment
"Merchandising is also content... Pursuing both businesses proved effective"
Expanding intellectual property to broaden target audiences
There are seven major characters in the world that generate the highest revenue: Pokemon, Hello Kitty, Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse, Star Wars, Anpanman, and Disney Princesses. They share one thing in common: their merchandising sales overwhelmingly surpass the revenue from the original comics, games, movies, or animations that first introduced them to the public. For example, Pokemon's merchandising revenue is 3.5 times greater than its game sales, and Star Wars' merchandising revenue is more than four times its box office sales. Through repeated exposure, a fandom is formed and expanded, which in turn drives the promotion of various products and increases sales.
The average age of these characters is fifty-five. In comparison, Korean characters are much younger. They struggle to function independently outside of their stories or videos. However, they have an advantage that older characters do not: they are free from implicit rules, formulas, and traditions. This allows them to attempt a wider variety of new things without much burden.
SAMG Entertainment is a leading company that has successfully achieved this. Unlike typical American or Japanese companies, SAMG Entertainment has established its growth engine through animation production while simultaneously pursuing a merchandising business. Jung Hyun Bae, Head of Global Business at SAMG Entertainment, participated as a speaker at the '2025 Content Industry Forum' hosted by the Korea Creative Content Agency at CKL Stage in Seoul on June 19, and stated, "We operate our business with the mindset that 'merchandising is also content.'"
He explained, "We boldly broke away from the structure of planning merchandising based on the popularity gained from animation. Instead, we consider merchandising from the very stage of planning the animation." He added, "Before the video is produced, the head of the toy team reads the script and provides input from the perspective of product development." He further stated, "By applying this new planning and development principle, the time required to reach the break-even point has been getting shorter and shorter." Specifically, he said, "For 'Mini Special Forces,' it decreased from five years to four months, and for 'Catch! Teenieping,' it decreased from two years to four months."
The expansion of intellectual property (IP) to broaden the target audience also played a significant role in the surge in sales. The domestic kids' market is smaller than that of the United States or Japan. Not only is the population of infants and children smaller, but there is also a strong tendency to perceive animation solely as content for children. To break away from this stereotype, SAMG Entertainment created the family-targeted movie "Love's Hatchuping." This 3D animated film was released in August last year and attracted 1,240,130 viewers at the box office, generating 11,132,090,000 won in revenue. This is the second-highest record among Korean animated films of all time.
Bae stated, "We are planning to produce two more films as part of a trilogy," and added, "We are also actively conducting musical theater projects across the country for the same goal." He continued, "Our goal is to raise the quality to the point where adults can also enjoy it," and predicted, "If the popularity of animation continues to expand into movies, games, and comics, a new value chain will be formed in the animation and character industry."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
