SM Entertainment launches audition program production studio, Studio White

From left: producers Park Sang-hyun, Kim Na-yeon and Ko Ik-jo [SM ENTERTAINMENT]

SM Entertainment launched a content production studio that will specialize in creating audition programs for diverse music genres and entertainment shows, the K-pop agency said Friday.

The new company, named Studio White, will be established in a company-in-company format, which is what Korean conglomerates call it when they establish a special team within the company that is technically not a separate company but exists outside the original company's usual business structure.

Studio White will be helmed by TV producers who were behind various audition programs. Ko Ik-jo will be the head of the studio. He produced the second, third, fifth and sixth seasons of cable network Mnet’s hit hip-hop audition show “Show Me the Money” and also participated in making the program’s spinoff shows “Unpretty Rapstar” (2015-16) and “Highschool Rapper” (2017).

Other producers who will join him include the producer behind MBC’s “My Teenage Girl”(2021) Park Sang-hyun and producer Kim Na-yeon from Mnet’s “Street Dance Girls Fighter” (2021).

“We will produce more realistic audition shows that reflect reality,” Ko said in a press release. “We are planning to make new formats that can focus on portraying the individual contestants for viewers to enjoy.”

BY KIM JI-YE [kim.jiye@joongang.co.kr]