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▲This photo, provided by Yonhap News Agency, shows K-dramas. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE)(Yonhap)
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▲This photo, provided by Netflix, shows (L TO R) 'D.P,' 'All of Us Are Dead,' 'Hell' (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
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▲This photo, provided by Yonhap News Agency, shows boy group Stray Kids. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
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▲This photo, provided by Yonhap News Agency, shows boy group SEVENTEEN. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
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| ▲This photo, provided by YG Entertainment, shows girl group BLACKPINK. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
SEOUL, December 26 (Yonhap) -- Will there be K-contents and K-pop stars that will win over the hearts of viewers internationally just like the show "Squid Game" and the boy group BTS in the coming year?
The online streaming platform, which has become the new platform for providing dramas and variety shows, will continue diverse investments in Korean contents to earn the title of "Second Squid Game." The second season of the drama and diverse variety programs are planned to be produced.
Boy groups such as Stray Kids, Seventeen, NCT, and more, who are already loved by the world music industry, are considered as the group to take the place of BTS, who are on pause as they are currently serving in the military.
K-content producers aspiring to be the "Second Squid Game"... actively produce second seasons and variety shows.
Despite the fact that the online streaming platform industry is currently stagnant, investment in K-content continues.
Global online streaming platforms such as Netflix, Disney+, and Apple TV+ have confirmed they will produce the second season of successful Korean dramas.
Netflix will begin shooting the second season of "Squid Game," and will also produce second seasons of "D.P.," "All of Us Are Dead," known as the K-highschool zombie drama, and director Yeon Sang-ho's "Hell."
Apple TV+ will also produce the second season of "Pachinko," which depicts the life of a Korean-Japanese family that has lived in Japan for four generations, showing high expectations of K-content.
An official from a drama producing company said, "The reason why global online streaming platforms are being this active in producing the second seasons of Korean dramas is because they make high profit through it," adding, "Investments will be continued even though the drama does not show a strike like 'Squid Game,' as newly released Korean dramas mostly record high ranks in Japan and South East Asian countries.
Local Korean and global online streaming platforms collaborate to target the international market.
Wavve took over KOCOWA, a platform that provides K-content in 30 countries including America, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and more. in order to expand their global business. Tving is also expanding their business internationally by collaborating with U.S. Amazon's streaming platform, Amazon Prime Video, and making a contract to service "Island," their original drama.
The Chinese industry, which was frozen due to a government ban on Hallyu, has been slowly melting down. Chinese online streaming platforms such as Bilibili, iQIYI, YOUKU, and more, started servicing Korean shows such as "Hospital Playlist," "Strong Girl Bong-Soon," "Twenty Five, Twenty One," and more.
If K-drama is currently the leading category of K-contents, variety shows, documentaries, and more are expected to be strengthened in the future.
Netflix officially announced that they are going to increase the investment made in Korean variety shows, and Disney+ will release documentaries spotlighting K-pop stars such as "SUPER JUNIOR: The Last Man Standing," showing the history of SUPER JUNIOR, marking their 18th anniversary of debut.
A variety show PD of an independent production company said. "If there has been a lot of investment or supply in dramas in recent years, the variety show industry is expected to grow further in the next few years," he said. "I know that producers who became independent from broadcasting companies are working with online streaming platforms for various projects."
◇ Stray Kids, SEVENTEEN, NCT, BLACKPINK ... K-pop fever to continue in 2023
The group BTS paused their team activity with the enlistment of the eldest member Jin this year, but strong junior groups are expected to continue the K-pop fever in the coming year.
Above all, the music industry is paying attention to the frightening growth of the group Stray Kids, which belongs to JYP.
Stray Kids, which debuted in 2018, built a strong fandom by winning the Mnet competition program "Kingdom: Legendary War" last year with solid self-producing ability and powerful performances.
They stood tall as the next generation of global K-pop stars, placing their sixth mini-album "ODDINARY" and seventh mini-album "MAXIDENT" at the top of the U.S. Billboard's main album chart, the "Billboard 200."
BTS and Stray Kids are the only artists who topped the chart for more twice. "MAXIDENT" recorded sales of 3 million with their single album.
Kim Jin-woo, a senior researcher at Circle Chart, analyzed that the group had the highest rise in their album sales this year (according to week 1–50), showing an increase of 3.2 million more album sales compared to last year.
An official from the music industry looked forward, "As it is hard for BTS to return as a team for some time, Stray Kid has a high possibility of becoming the group to represent K-pop in the global market," adding, "The group will be expanding their world tour next year, driven by the momentum of topping the 'Billboard 200' chart twice this year."
In the Japanese market, SEVENTEEN, under the same agency as BTS, is making clear achievements, beating Japanese artists in the Oricon annual album chart this year and ranking third and seventh.
Seventeen has added two more stadium-level performances due to the good response to this year's world tour, and HYBE expects to have a bigger dome tour next year. SEVENTEEN is aiming to release a new album in the first half of next year.
In addition, NCT 127 sold 2 million copies of their fourth album, BLACKPINK became the first K-pop girl group to top the "Billboard 200" chart, and is currently on their world tour with 1.5 million people in total.
These groups will continue their concert tours next year, continuing the global K-pop fever.
The upcoming activities of rookie girl groups such as IVE, NewJeans, LE SSERAFIM, NMIXX, and more are also looked forward to. The girl groups will gold their first concert or their fan concert on the coming year. Some groups already have full schedules for the year 2023, recording their highest point.
An official from the music industry predicted, "There are many groups that have high popularity with individual colors, and their activities will liven up the music industry next year," adding, "As the competition between teams progresses more interestingly, girl groups are likely to continue to strengthen next year. People are interested in whether YG will release a new girl group after BLACKPINK."
(This article is translated from Korean to English by Dowon Kim.)
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