Publishing Industry
Domestic Video Content Originating from Literature
2023.04.03
We are living in an era of stories. In the 21st century, humans, who have evolved through tales, start their lives in stories, experience mood changes like a roller coaster, and consume numerous stories based on how they feel and what they like. Global OTT dominates our pastime these days. Netflix, the world’s largest OTT platform, has 220 million paid subscribers. One noticeable fact is that more than 60% of paid subscribers of Netflix in 2022 watched at least one Korean content, which proves the prowess of Korean products. Netflix released this year’s lineup, and there are a whopping 28 pieces from Korea, starting with its original series, “The Glory.” Netflix seems to be invested in Korean content after gaining 1 trillion won worth of profits with the “Squid Game.”
The main poster of “The Glory” Part 2
Many Korean and other OTTs will advance and invest this year. Therefore, the competition will only grow fiercer. Now, we are living in the era of story wars in Korea. At the same time, the importance of original IP is rising. As the OTT platform competition gets heated, the race to secure content becomes more intense. For that matter, securing the IP of the 1st copyrighted work that saw success is one of the basic strategies. Areas highlighted as original IPs were web comics and web novels. “All of Us Are Dead,” “D.P,” “Hellbound,” “Sweet Home,” “Incomplete Life,” “Along with the Gods,” and “Work Later, Drink Now” are based on web comics, and “Reborn Rich,” “What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim?,” “Business Proposal,” and “Semantic Error” are based on web novels.
With OTT platform competition getting fiercer, the importance of original IP is rising.
As a publisher releasing literary works, I would like to talk about trends and significant changes in the IP field, focusing on Korean video content originating from Korean literary pieces. The Nabiclub, which I am a member of, releases the only Korean detective literary magazine Quarterly Mystery and joins two content IP business events every year, which are Content IP Biz Meeting held by KOCCA, and Busan Story Market, the world’s first story market hosted by the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF). During the event, many pitch their novels to video producers and IP buyers, and have business meetings to conclude copyright contracts. The Nabiclub also has joined previously mentioned events to promote its novels. Even now, the Nabiclub introduces stories, studies transmedia storytelling, and negotiates contracts as a follow-up of the event.
My Crazy Feminist Girlfriend, Strange Mystery, and 2035 SF Mystery
Tiredness from Repetitive Cliches of Exciting Genre
Web comics and web novels, popular genres of this era, target their primary readers: teens and the 20s. Those works are often filled with exciting content, such as classic narratives and hooks that keep readers engaged, but the threshold for such exciting elements gets higher over time. Video producers are now exploring stories with meaningful themes and ideas, which have been found in traditional forms of novels. For example, AppleTV’s successful drama “Pachinko” originates from a saga written by writer Lee Min-Jin, who developed and prepared it for 30 years. The story gained worldwide popularity and succeeded while showing the lives of Koreans living in Japan called Zainichi. The book thrived after becoming a drama for its rich themes, characters, and easy-to-read narratives. Increasing sales and popularity of the original piece after the drama was aired showed the power of well-made dramas.
School Nurse Ahn Eunyoung, Dealing with Love, and Reflection of You
Ms. Hammurabi, I’ll Find You on a Beautiful Day, and Intimate Stranger
The Principle of Supply and Demand
Nowadays, short-form web dramas are shown on YouTube and online channels. Likewise, forms and distribution methods of dramas and movies are diversifying, and new types of video producers are in line with the change. Finding an original IP is the best way to reduce the time spent developing a story. However, if the producers do not have a relatively substantial capital, copyright prices of web comics and web novels already verified through their views are burdensome. Additionally, novel IPs are less challenging since signing copyright contracts with web comics or web novels is available only if the concluding party is a well-known video producer. There are many variables in turning literary pieces into videos, and being a best-selling novel does not guarantee the movie or drama’s success. In other words, even if particular literary works are not famous, they can be created as videos as long as they have exciting settings, characters, and themes. Some publishers only release genre novels to run video transmedia copyright business, targeting such demands.
Novel IPs are seeing increased demand due to cost-effective copyright prices
The War on Securing Writers
According to the Media Issue & Trend Report (“미디어 이슈 & 트렌드 보고서”) released by Korea Communications Agency (KCA) in 2022, the global OTT market is expected to grow from $50.1 billion in 2020 to $184.3 billion in 2027. The Asia-Pacific market is forecasted to rise the most ($11.74 billion in 2020 → $45.94 billion in 2027). As of 2020, Korea’s OTT market alone exceeds 780 billion won. Korea also has the 4th biggest movie market, following the US, China, and Japan, with 1.6 billion won in 2019.
Almond
Recently, Korean novels have been re-discovered as a source of infinite expansion potential, not the final destination of literature. As web comics and web novels saturate the video market with their content, novels are now highlighted as original IPs for having unique ideas and uncommon storylines.
Written by Lee Young-Eun (Head of the Nabiclub)
Lee Young-Eun (Head of the Nabi Club) #Literature#OTT Platform#Novel IP#Video Content |
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