CJ ENM’s TVing looks beyond Korea with Yonder, other K-drama series

South Korean entertainment powerhouse CJ ENM Co.’s over-the-top streaming platform TVing is taking its original sci-fi drama series Beyond the Memory to overseas markets to take on bigger rivals such as Netflix Inc. in the increasingly competitive OTT market.

Beyond the Memory, widely known by its Korean title Yonder, was directed by Lee Joon-ik, a master of period films such as The King and The Clown (2005) and The Book of Fish (2021).

The six-episode series, released on TVing’s platform on Oct. 14, is CJ ENM’s first collaborative work with its US partner Paramount+.

CJ ENM officials said it will take the original series, based on Kim Jang-hwan’s 2011 sci-fi novel Good-bye Yonder, to major markets such as the US, UK, Italy, Canada and Australia through Paramount+’s global network in the first half of next year.

The drama will also be available in France and Germany, where Paramount+, a unit of Hollywood studio and distributor Paramount Global, plans to launch services by the end of this year, they said.

“Yonder and six others to be made by TVing will go abroad in collaboration with our global partners,” said a CJ ENM official.

Set in 2032, Beyond the Memory depicts the story of a man (Jae Hyun, played by Korean actor Shin Ha-kyun) who receives a message from his deceased wife (Yi Hu, played by Korean actress Han Ji-min), and is invited to an unknown place called Yonder, where he can meet her.

ANOTHER ORIGINAL, ISLAND, TO BE STREAMED VIA AMAZON PRIME

Another TVing original, Island, to be streamed on its platform in December, will also be available in overseas markets through Amazon Prime Video, a US OTT player.

Starring Kim Nam-gil, Lee Da-hee and Cha Eun-woo and set on the Korean resort island of Jeju, the drama series Island is about three people fighting against evil trying to destroy the world.

CJ ENM has been striving to take its original content overseas to capitalize on the global success of K-content ranging from TV series and movies to pop music groups.

CJ ENM runs around 16 cable TV channels, including drama channel tvN and music channel Mnet as well as the OTT platform TVing. CJ, the producer of the Oscar-winning film Parasite, also operates film production companies such as Studio Dragon Corp.

Season 2 of CJ’s original series Yumi’s Cells, released on TVing in June, was nominated for the main prize at the Asian Academy Creative Awards (AACA) 2022, Asia’s largest content awards ceremony held in Singapore every year.

TVing said it will also directly advance into the global market by launching OTT services in Japan and Taiwan next year and in the US and Europe in 2024.

LAGGARD IN KOREA

In Korea, TVing faced an uphill battle until recently as the domestic market has emerged as a battleground for Korean and global OTT players, including SK Telecom’s Wavve, to secure locally produced TV series and dramas that have become global hits.

Netflix is the dominant player in Korea with its viewership growth far exceeding that of its competitors thanks to a string of popular content releases like Squid Game and All of Us are Dead.

However, in the past couple of years, TVing has made great strides.

According to big data firm Mobile Index, TVing last month ranked first among homegrown OTT players in Korea.

TVing’s monthly active users totaled 4.18 million in September, ahead of Wavve’s 4.13 million users.

“We’ll further raise the number our service users through aggressive advances into overseas markets,” said a TVing official.

Write to Hee-Kyung Kim at hkkim@hankyung.com
In-Soo Nam edited this article.