Korean content shares jump on Beijing’s eased restrictions 

South Korean content shares finished Friday’s trade higher, buoyed by expectations of resumed exports to China and news that Disney+ will release more than a couple dozen Korean titles within this year. 

Shares of Studio Dragon Corp. finished the day’s trade at 88,100 won, up 1.85% from the day prior. Studio Dragon is a K-drama production, marketing and distribution company under CJ ENM Co.'s E&M division.

Next Entertainment World (NEW) rose 6.79% and KeyEast, founded by the first generation Korean Wave actor Bae Yong-joon, climbed 4.02%. 

Stocks of JContentree Corp., AStory, and Pan Entertainment jumped 3.69%, 2.47%, and 1.51% respectively.

A day prior, one of China’s three main online streaming services iQIYI announced it will begin offering Korean drama dubbed Something in the Rain on its platform, which originally aired in 2018.

Back in 2016, China issued a ban on streaming of South Korean TV shows and K-pop music videos. Chinese internet users have also posted about boycotting K-beauty skincare and cosmetics. 

The ban came after an agreement between Seoul and Washington to build and install a missile shield system known as Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) in the South to protect it against possible North Korean attacks. 

With the iQIYI announcement this week, investors are hopeful other Korean dramas could be allowed to be shown on Chinese streaming sites. 

US streaming behemoths vying for South Korean content has also lifted up the investor sentiment. 

Disney+, operated by The Walt Disney Company, said it will carry more than 20 South Korean TV productions this year – including 12 original titles. 

Another California-based streaming giant Netflix announced it will showcase at least 25 original Korean productions this year, up from last year’s 15 titles.

South Korean streaming services like TVing and Wavve also plan to stream up to 30 original productions this year. TVing is operated by the namesake TVing Corp., a joint venture of CJ E&M, Naver Corp. and JTBC.

Local providers are jonesing to mimic the worldwide success of Squid Games available on Netflix.

“It's quite encouraging to see a K-drama being released on a Chinese streaming site again,” Samsung Securities Co. analyst Choi Min-ha said. “Another positive is the overall higher amount of investment in content production as the competition among different platforms heats up.”

Write to Sul-Gi Lee at surugi@hankyung.com
Jee Abbey Lee edited this article.