Executives at CJ ENM, Korea’s largest media and leisure conglomerate, committed on Friday to investing more than KRW 1 billion ($750 million) a year in content.
“We continue to invest in K-content,” said the group’s CEO, Yoon Sang-hyun, at an event held on the sidelines of the Busan International Film Festival. “By keeping our content funding at KRW 1 billion and using our accumulated insights through international studios, cinemas and OTT platforms, CJ ENM will be dedicated to improving the film industry’s numbers.”
Yoon and other group executives tried to sound optimistic about the long-term future of the business, while acknowledging extreme headwinds in the near term.
Yoon acknowledged challenges including continued weakness in theatrical box office in Korea (and elsewhere), changes in the streaming industry, a shift by viewers toward short-form video consumption, and the potential disruption of artificial intelligence.
“We are already doing the most content funding of any company in Korea and we are committed to growing it even further,” Yoon said.
He did not divide the definition between sectors, nor did he differentiate between the content to be explored by the organization or the TV programs produced by its massive Studio Dragon TV factory for consumers. And business sources report that CJ ENM’s investment in feature films is now significantly lower than just a few years ago.
But absolute numbers may not matter, as Yoon and others have sought to emphasize broader content use and cross-functional exploration across the group’s different distribution stores. “We have seen that some films that were shown in theaters can perform extremely well on OTT,” said Cho Jin-ho, head of the domestic business division of exhibition arm CJ-CGV.
There are several headwinds. Search Engine Optimization Jang-ho, head of content business, said, “Production prices have doubled since the pre-COVID era. All TV channels are facing declines in advertising revenue, making it harder to bill for new shows. And the deficit is simply not being compensated by foreign sales.”
Lee Dong hyun, business innovation executive at CGV, said: “In the film, we are currently only at 60% of peak business. Restoration can be very gradual. There were successful films, but the performance of mid-tier films declined drastically. This gives us real concern for next year and the future.”
Choi Ju-hui, head of Tving, the streaming platform through which CJ ENM is the main investor, stated that the platform has caught up with Netflix in the Korean market. “We are only looking at a 5% subscriber growth perspective for now. We need to look at growing subscribers and revenue and aligning with new consumer needs, like adding live baseball (KBO).
Jang Kyung-ik, who recently took the reins of Studio Dragon, stated, “After I joined, I kept hearing the phrase ‘disaster.’ It is true that we went from producing 120 long-term exhibitions in 2022 to 105 last year and 96 this year. But I think we’re really plateauing at about 100 a year.”
The speakers provided several examples of innovation in content use and cross-platform exploration. The TV show, “Boost our Love,” received different rating variations on linear TV and R-rated Tving streaming. Another show, “A Bloody Fortunate Day,” premiered a few episodes in CGV theaters a few days earlier to air on TV.
“After ten years of steady growth in the film industry, we are truly in a different environment,” said Jerry Ko, the group’s head of film. “We are studying how to focus and direct our investments and our intention to internationalize our films.”
Top film and TV titles for 2025 include: Park Chan-wook is now in production on the feature film “No Other Choice”; “Bugonia,” Yorgos Lanthimos’ remake of CJ’s 2003 film “Save the Blue Planet”; and a series adaptation of the film “Fabricated City”.