YLab CEO Kang Cheol-gu emphasizes the value of webtoon IP, “We aim for global expansion through franchise IP”

“If a drama is a polished diamond, a webtoon is a rough diamond. No matter what format it succeeds in, it can create new value again.”

Cheol-gu Cheol-gu, CEO of YLab, recently met with Yonhap News at the YLab headquarters in Seogyo-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul and explained the value of the company's intellectual property rights (IP) as follows.

YLab started as a webtoon studio in 2010 and has become a content production company capable of webtoon planning and production, video production, and secondary commercialization. The online video service (OTT) series 'Good Competition', 'Study Group', and 'True Education', which are based on the company's webtoon of the same name, are successively popular globally and are attracting attention in the industry.

In particular, 'True Education' was produced as a series starring actor Kim Moo-yeol and became a sensation around the world. Based on Netflix's official site Todoom, it ranked first among non-English shows for four consecutive weeks. Eight weeks after its release, it ranked as the 10th most popular non-English show on Netflix ever.

Since the 30th of last month, the movie 'Resurrected Man: The Red' starring Koo Kyo-hwan, based on the webtoon of the same name, has also been meeting audiences.

CEO Kang found the success formula for live-action works in the company's internalized production system.

He said, "All three works started with a good webtoon IP, a clear story to tell, and attractive characters. By talking closely with the original writers, we were able to keep track of which parts of the original work should be preserved and what elements of the characters should be maintained even when adapting it into a drama."

CEO Kang was appointed last March and is leading YLab along with founder and chairman Yoon In-wan. He started as an IT engineer at LG CNS and worked at CJ Olive Young, CJ ENM, and Studio Dragon.

When he was CEO of Studio Dragon, he highly valued YLab's IP value and promoted investment and cooperation in video production.

CEO Kang, who has been paying attention to the potential of YLab from outside the company, chose webtoons, the original IP, as the company's core asset.

After joining YLab, he felt the value of webtoons even more. He said, "A well-made drama is a diamond that has already been polished, so there are limits to creating additional value. Webtoons have a much greater potential to operate in the long tail through reexamination of the original work and expansion of the format if a format is successful."

Representative examples are ‘friendly competition’ and ‘study groups’. After the success of 'Study Group' starring Hwang Min-hyun, several proposals poured in from China, and the company is currently discussing conditions with a large Chinese company for the production of an animation film. ‘Good Competition’ has also begun the planning and development phase of a short-form drama.

Another characteristic of YLab IP is that individual works are connected within a single worldview. Superhero drama 'Super String', youth school drama 'Blue String', romance drama 'Red String', and romance fantasy drama 'Gold String' build worldviews targeting different readerships and connect works and characters within them.

Because of these characteristics, YLab is also called ‘Korea’s Marvel.’

CEO Kang explained, “The characters and backgrounds of individual works are interconnected, so it is fun to explore these aspects. As the fandom of one work flows back into a new, connected work, the worldview is expanding.”

Various projects are also underway to target the global market. A pilot project to create results through Seadance, an artificial intelligence (AI) video creation model, with YLab's IP has also been launched in an agreement with ByteDance, the parent company of Chinese video platform TikTok.

We are preparing two large-scale projects with Bandai Namco, known as the ‘Disney of Japan’ as it owns huge IPs such as ‘Gundam’, ‘One Piece’, and ‘Dragon Ball’. The explanation is that a famous Korean writer who can be called a ‘top tier’ is participating here.

CEO Kang aims to ‘increase IP value’. While the existing One Source Multi-Use (OSMU) is a one-time methodology that expands a single IP into various businesses, IP Value Up is a long-term strategy that creates a value reproduction system so that the IP can continue to attract new fans and have vitality.

He analyzed, “The core context that has enabled Disney to achieve its 100th year is also sustainable ‘franchise IP’ and ‘repeatable growth.’”

The recent acquisition of Details, an IP-based fandom business company, is also for this purpose. The final appearance of YLab drawn by CEO Kang is also in line with this.

“We will create a strong fandom and world view with franchise IP that can be continuously expanded and reproduced. Through this, we will become a company with a global IP that brings joy to the whole world.”

CEO Kang ultimately hoped that YLab would become a company that leads the fandom.

He emphasized, "The solution to the continued growth of K-content is ultimately having to have a good IP. There are 105 webtoons in YLab, which means we already have 105 good gems. By utilizing key assets that can lead to the expansion of the fandom, we will move from 'I like 'true education'' to 'I like companies that create 'true education'.'"