Key takeaways from last week’s Broadcast Worldwide (BCWW) event in Seoul, South Korea, include the fallout from the TVing and Wavve merger, and rising costs meaning producers are struggling to meet demand for their content.
More mega-merger horror for producers
Turns out Warner Bros Discovery does not have the monopoly on convoluted mega-mergers, the fallout from which can hit producers hard.
Producers and distributors on the BCWW exhibition floor in Seoul told last week of how the imminent slamming together of two of South Korea’s biggest streamers, TVing and Wavve, has put a freeze on new commissions.
The long-gestating merger of South Korea’s second most popular streamer (TVing) and its fourth most popular (Wavve) won conditional approval from the Korea Fair Trade Commission in June this year and looks set to be made official in the coming months.
TVing is majority owned by content and media group CJ ENM, with minority stakes held by KT Studio Genie, the content arm of telco KT Corporation, as well as Naver Corporation and SLL (fka JTBC Studios). Wavve, meanwhile, is owned by telco SK Telecom together with South Korea’s three main terrestrial broadcasters: KBS, MBC and SBS.
Given that most of the country’s biggest commissioning broadcasters and platforms, apart from the likes of Netflix (the most popular streamer) and SoftBank-backed Coupang Play (the third most popular), are tied up in the merger, this means commissioning here in South Korea appears to be on something of a hiatus until it goes through.
“We have some big formats awaiting decisions that should have been easy greenlights but they’re taking much longer because of the merger. There are so many stakeholders involved,” said Jinwoo Hwang, president and exec producer at format agency Something Special. The company is here shopping formats such as Iron Squad and Unforgettable Duet.
Regarding the hiatus and its impact on her content supply lines, Jean Hur, director of format sales and international relations at The Masked Singer broadcaster and distributor Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), said: “MBC is a studio that produces for anyone so it hasn’t been good for us. However, we hear that the merger is going to be complete soon, so we hope that Wavve, Coupang and the other K-OTT platforms carry on investing more actively in Korean content.”
However, the head of another major Korean distribution company, keen to remain anonymous, told C21: “It will be good when the merger finally happens and commissioning can resume, but at the end of the day it still means the market loses a major buyer in the streaming space.”
Mariana Enriquez Denton Bustinza
Demand versus supply
The word around the exhibition halls and conference rooms at BCWW appeared to confirm data revealed by UK research outfit Ampere Analysis over the summer. Ampere’s data showed that while global audiences are watching more South Korean content than ever, both international streaming platforms in the country and local commissioners are producing fewer new TV titles.
Despite global demand rising, domestic commissioning has slowed sharply, according to Ampere. Between H1 2023 and H1 2025, global streamers have reduced South Korean TV commissions by 43% and commissions from local players fell by 20%.
As South Korean commissioners battle rising production costs and the higher expectations of a global audience against the backdrop of worldwide inflationary pressures, they are struggling to meet demand, said Ampere. This has particularly affected scripted commissions – the most popular Korean titles internationally – which fell 39% between H1 2023 and H1 2025.
“Korean content has leapt onto the international stage, reaching worldwide success with both global SVoD originals and local titles,” said Ampere analyst Mariana Enriquez Denton Bustinza, unveiling the data last month.
“However, despite continued demand for K-content, TV commissions from local and global players have declined, with global SVoDs changing content strategies from scripted originals to focus on acquisitions, and in Netflix’s case, producing a higher proportion of unscripted titles.
“Despite struggling with inflated costs, this leaves the export market open for South Korean commissioners, especially now that Netflix is reportedly considering the introduction of caps on actors’ fees, which may lead to a more accessible and reinvigorated local production landscape.”
While that new demand for acquisitions might be good news for the international distributors shopping their wares to local buyers here at BCWW, for the Korean producers and distributors looking to capitalise on the global demand created by global hits like The Masked Singer and Squid Game, it’s a different story.
Shortform is king
Anybody starting to think Quibi might have been onto something after all?
LG Uplus-owned Korean production house Studio X+U is the latest to move into shortform drama in partnership with online platform Naver, with the two companies unveiling a new slate at BCWW.
Studio X+U has built a reputation as a producer of midform drama through titles such as crime thriller The Hunter with a Scalpel, which was produced by Soul Creative and debuted on U+TV and U+ Mobile TV in June. It was also picked up by Disney+.
The studio is also behind other series such as Friendly Rivalry, The Night Has Come and High Cookie, and the company said its new slate marks a deliberate push into a fast-growing shortform genre. The studio said the project is designed to match the viewing habits of younger audiences, who favour “fast-paced storytelling and straightforward narratives.”
Lee Deok-jae, executive VP of Studio X+U, said: “Studio X+U, which has been loved by global Millennial and Gen Z audiences for its entertaining and relatable midform content, is now collaborating with Naver to break away from formulaic patterns and present short dramas with fresh and engaging stories. Following our success in midform, we aim to evolve into the studio that creates the best shortform content as well.”
Quibi co-founders Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman were forced to wind down their well-backed shortform video outfit in 2020, blaming the pandemic and the sudden decline in the number of people commuting among other factors. Right idea, wrong time…
Setting sights on CEE
The Korea Creative Content Agency (Kocca) is planning a major push into Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) markets and has appointed Iljoong Kim to oversee the move.
Currently director of the Content Business Hub division at Kocca, Kim has been appointed as head of Kocca’s new office in Poland, effective from November. Based in Warsaw, Kim will drive South Korean content exports and relationships in CEE as his main priority, with facilitating Korea/CEE coproductions rising up the agenda in subsequent years.
Kocca has been a driving force behind the so-called Korean Wave that has seen drama, animation and unscripted formats from the East Asian country selling across Asia, Western Europe, Latin America and the US. Now the agency has the CEE region in its sights.
“The volume of Korean content that sells into CEE is currently quite small but we think buyers and broadcasters there are becoming more interested in East Asian content. The East Asian content market is growing fast, but Koreans have limited connections in CEE. So we have a chance to change that.”
Korean titles to have seen success in CEE include talent format I Can See Your Voice on TV2 in Hungary, drama Ice Adonis airing on Kanal Ukrainia in Ukraine, dramas Innocent Defendant and Taxi Driver airing on Thema channels in Poland, and teen drama Dream High screening on LifeStyle in the same market.
Furthermore, globe-trotting South Korean talent format The Masked Singer has been produced across multiple CEE territories, with local adaptations in Hungary (RTL Klub), Romania (Pro TV), Poland (TVN), Czech Republic (Prima) and Slovakia (Markíza).
As to whether Korea/CEE coproductions will be a priority for Kocca’s new team in Warsaw, Kim said: “Maybe in the future. They like specific genres in CEE, such as crime and sci-fi, whereas Koreans like romance and comedy. However, both regions have a high demand for animation.”