Export ‘format’ instead of video… Overseas, including ‘Physical: 100’ and ‘Woo Young-woo’
IP verification becomes faster with global OTT… “A country that sells planning and production know-how”
(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Go Ga-hye = Dramas, entertainment shows, and movies that were successful in Korea are being reproduced one after another as local versions overseas.
Beyond simply exporting the completed video itself, 'format export', which sells the framework and production grammar of the work, appears to have become a new box office formula for K-content.
According to the weekly top 10 tally on Netflix's official site Todoom on the 4th, the recently released Mexican and Italian local versions of Netflix's entertainment show 'Physical: 100' ranked 4th and 5th among global non-English shows in the first week of release, respectively, and maintained the top 10 for two consecutive weeks.
'Physical: 100' is a survival program in which 100 people with the strongest physical strength decide who will be the last one, and when Season 1 was released in 2023, it was the first Korean entertainment show to rank first on Netflix's global non-English show.
We are expanding our world view by confirming production not only in Mexico and Italy, but also in the United States, Sweden, and France. In particular, the French version attracted attention with the addition of former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou.
Producer Jang Ho-gi, who directed the original work, said, "The world of 'Physical: 100' is expanding by not just translating the Korean program, but adding each country's culture, sports, and aesthetics. As a creator, it's a dream come true to see Korean ideas and production methods recreated through local creators."
Dating reality shows are also expanding their vitality with variations tailored to local sentiments. Following the success of 'Love Transit', a Japanese remake of TVING's representative entertainment show 'Transit Love', for three consecutive seasons, the new work 'Love Transit 35+', which features contestants over 35 and divorced men and women, is scheduled to be released on Amazon Prime Video on the 22nd. Recently, production of the Brazilian version was confirmed and the territory was expanded into South America.
Kim Do-hyeon, head of CJ ENM's content distribution business unit (BU), explained, "'Love Transit' has established itself as a global hit format by combining the culture and emotions of each region with the strong consensus of the original format," adding, "The launch of a new season in Japan and the confirmation of production of a Brazilian remake are representative achievements that show that K-entertainment is expanding its influence beyond language and borders."
The localization trend is also strong in the drama and movie sectors.
ENA's 'Weird Lawyer Woo Young-woo', which recorded the highest viewership rating of 17.5% when it aired in Korea and ranked first in the non-English show category on Netflix for 7 consecutive weeks, has been reborn as 'Attorney Minami Minami is a Genius' with a Japanese local atmosphere and is scheduled to air for the first time on the 19th.
tvN's 'Ilta Scandal' was broadcast in May as a Thai version that incorporated the local education environment instead of the Daechi-dong private education craze, and MBC's 'She Was Pretty', which had previously been remade in China, Japan, and Turkicye, was remade as 'Cuando Puy Bonita' set in Mexico and has been airing since last month.
In addition, the drama 'Descendants of the Sun' is being produced as a theatrical film in Indonesia, and the movie 'Gift in Room 7' is continuing the vitality of the original, with Indonesia's own sequel being remade again in the Philippines.
The background to this active format export and remake lies in the structure of prior verification of box office success through the global online video service (OTT).
With simultaneous release around the world, viewer reactions and data from each country are immediately accumulated, allowing overseas production companies to lower production risks by selecting intellectual property rights (IPs) with proven box-office potential. It was also effective to be able to narrow the cultural distance unique to subtitled or dubbed versions by remaking it with local actors and languages.
Domestic production companies are also diversifying their profit structure by moving away from selling one-time content copyrights and securing format usage fees, seasonal royalties, and sequel production rights.
A global OTT official pointed out, "The business scope of the Korean content industry is expanding beyond exporting finished works, format sales and remakes, overseas expansion of domestic production teams, and international co-production, etc. This shows that Korea is moving beyond 'a country that produces popular content' to 'a country that also exports planning and production know-how.'"
