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Content, livestreaming, short-form video bolster Tving's plans for global domination

Published: 10 Feb. 2025, 18:21 Updated: 10 Feb. 2025, 18:29

YOON SO-YEON
[email protected]

Drama and entertainment show producers at CJ ENM answer questions from reporters during a press conference held on Feb. 10 at the CJ ENM headquarters building in western Seoul. From left are: Production CP Kim Ryoon-hee, production CP Kim Ho-jun, producer Kim In-ha, producer Jeong Cheol-min and production CP Lee Won-hyoung. [CJ ENM]

This year will be “the first true year of going global for Tving,” the CEO of one of Korea’s largest entertainment companies, CJ ENM, proclaimed Monday, promising to finally take the streaming platform Tving to the global market this year.

“We are planning on jointly creating new content with various global studios, including those in the United States, Japan and Southeast Asia,” CJ ENM CEO Yoon Sang-hyun told reporters in a press conference held Monday at the CJ ENM headquarters in western Seoul.

“We will also take Tving global and focus on expanding the global competency of our digital platform, such as Mnet Plus. We plan on opening our new chapter to the future, in this day and age where the boundaries of space and language, along with the boundaries of technology and culture, become blurred and cross-media content is becoming the norm.”

CJ ENM celebrates its 30th year of establishment after its parent company CJ began its foray into the entertainment industry in August 1994. CJ ENM is the largest entertainment company in Korea with a 1.23 trillion won ($848,000,000) market cap, as of Monday. It owns some of the largest brands in entertainment, such as television music channel Mnet, multiple K-pop agencies, drama and entertainment channel tVN and streaming platform Tving.

CJ ENM owns a diverse business portfolio in the culture and entertainment industry, but Monday’s press conference focused only on the company’s television and streaming projects under tvN and Tving.

CJ ENM CEO Yoon Sang-hyun [CJ ENM]

Two major numbers were highlighted by CEO Yoon. Sixty-five drama series and entertainment shows would be created this year, and “the company’s largest investment in content production” would be mobilized — 150 billion won more than the previous year. The total amount was not disclosed.

The company’s global ambitions for Tving were also announced, although roughly. In what seemed like a bid to become the Korean equivalent of YouTube, the platform recently began a short-form video function and announced that it would strengthen its livestreaming capabilities, especially for covering sports events.

“We are going to try new things that may be different from the direction we’ve taken in recent years,” Min Sun-hong, chief communication officer of Tving, said. “We’re focusing on strengthening the short-form content function and livestreams. We intend to take a different path from other streaming platforms and we believe that this strategy will make us a game changer.”

CJ ENM is currently in talks with another local streaming platform, Wavve, to merge the two services to become the largest domestic streaming service. It is not very likely that Tving will jointly launch with Wavve, but specific methods — such as whether Tving will start a standalone service in different countries or piggyback on existing local streaming services — are still in talks, according to Yoon.

A specific launch date is also up in the air, Yoon said.

Park Sang-hyuk, executive at the channel business division of CJ ENM at left, and Min Sun-hong, chief content officer at Tving [CJ ENM]

“We at CJ ENM are not afraid of new challenges,” he said. “We have been breaking not only our own boundaries, but we have also been turning culture into new businesses. We have expanded into multiple genres of content and we pride ourselves on having contributed to heightening the global reputation of K-dramas, K-films and K-music. This year will also be filled with a variety of content.”

CJ ENM aims to roll out content according to two very different ideas: powerful catharsis through dopamine-filled fun and harmless, healing content that consoles the tired modern mind.

While dramas like rom-com “My Dearest Nemesis” and romance thriller “Dear X,” as well as the fourth season of tvN’s notorious dating show “EXchange” (2021-), are tipped to deliver heart-pounding excitement and stimulation, the new rom-com drama series “The Potato Lab” and the spinoff of medical comedy series “Hospital Playlist” (2020), titled “Resident Playbook,” are expected to console people with comforting plots and characters.

Top actors, including “Squid Game” (2021-) star Lee Jung-jae, Girls’ Generation's Lim Yoon-a, “The Glory” (2022-23) actor Lim Ji-yeon and rising star Choo Young-woo, are set to take part in CJ ENM’s 2025 content rollout. Tving will also release original content, including “The Scandal of Chunhwa,” “I am a Running Mate,” “Way Back Love,” “Shark: The Storm,” “Kim Seong-geun's Winter Vacation” and “League of Baseball Nerds 2025.”

tvN's 2024 rom-com drama series "Lovely Runner" [CJ ENM]

tvN's 2024 romance drama series "Queen of Tears" [CJ ENM]

“I went out drinking with my father-in-law in Euljiro [central Seoul] last year and saw how it’s a relatively older part of Seoul but bustling with more people than downtown Seoul,” producer Jeong Cheol-min said.

“I believe television has that same power. The younger audience are moving toward YouTube and streaming platforms while adults still stick to televised media. But just as Euljiro has become ‘hip’ among the youngsters, we believe that tvN provides the space where everyone comes together.”

tvN has rolled out some of the biggest drama series in Korea. The channel saw the highest viewership rating last year with “Queen of Tears” featuring actors Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Ji-won, while time-traveling rom-com series “Lovely Runner” (2024) made its male lead Byeon Woo-seok one of the most sought-after actors in Korea.

The TV production environment became tougher with international competition from giants such as Netflix, but CJ ENM’s content will keep on appealing to the audience with its K-edge, according to CJ ENM's production CP Kim Ryoon-hee.

“Issues like rising costs and a shrinking advertising market are definitely big issues for us,” she said. “But just as we refined the production system in the past, we are also looking to change the production process that we’re used to so that we can create a healthier ecosystem as a whole.”

BY YOON SO-YEON [[email protected]]