EXCLUSIVE: A+E Global Media is leaning into the “extraordinary power” of K-pop, and has been for some time.
International boss Patrick Vien and Korea chief Youngsun Soh detailed a strategy that taps into the popularity of K-pop stars from those first breaking through at local agencies to when they become global success stories.
They were speaking with Deadline as A+E, which recently rebranded from Networks to Global Media to reflect its worldwide reach, soon turns 10 in Korea, having launched the History and Lifetime channels there in 2017.
“There are different buckets to what we do but the extraordinary power of K-pop plays a very important creative role in the kinds of shows we make and the casting choices we make, which influences our success,” said Vien. “To me that’s one of the most interesting aspects of our story. We used to live in one Hollywood and now we live in several, and Korea is one of them.”
Soh summarized: “If there is a recognizable K-pop idol talent in a show, this title will have great potential.”
When Deadline chats with the pair on the eve of MIPCOM, where A+E will once again have a big presence on the Croisette, Vien and Soh come with receipts.
Of the 14 original Korean drama series A+E has made since 2017, the vast majority have featured K-pop talent. These include Astro singer Cha Eun-woo, who has 46 million Instagram followers and starred in A Good Day to Be a Dog, Got7’s Park Jin-young (10 million Instagram followers) from A+E’s The Witch, and, most recently, CNBLUE’s Jung Yong-hwa, who is leading new Lifetime series Oh! My Guard alongside rising star Hong Seung-hee. The romance series follows a melodramatic star with a devastating secret, and a woman who, after an accident, comes to believe she is the heroine of his drama.
“We have this expertise and area of specialty to build mainstream, K-pop-backed scripted shows that work on big network television in Korea, can work on Lifetime, and can work on streaming platforms like Hulu,” said Vien.
A+E has a “solid relationship with the local community” and this helps with talent relations, according to Soh. While sometimes A+E will attract a K-pop star once they are already established, A+E is also working closely with the local Korean management companies that blood the next generation such as Fantagio, FNC Entertainment and BH Entertainment in order to spot them early.
Another way to spotlight this talent is via digital. Alongside its 14 dramas and 72 unscripted shows, A+E has now made 47 YouTube series, the company said, while in the days leading up to MIPCOM it revealed a push into microdrama, an exploding trend that started life in Asia.
One YouTube standout, which also features K-pop stars, is Nego King. Now into its eighth season, Soh reveals this one has amassed more than 200 million total YouTube views, which is four times Korea’s population.
In the long-running web series, hosts interview everyday consumers on the street and then negotiate massive product discounts directly with company bosses, securing bargains for contestants.
“This has become a proven concept where people can enjoy the creative behind the show but at the same time buy stuff through the show,” added Soh.
Being “independent from the streaming world”
A+E was talking up its K-pop chops just over a year after Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters nearly broke the internet and tore up the streamer’s viewing charts, while Disney has been seeking the next big K-pop hit via a 10-project deal plus culture fund with Kakao Entertainment.
When it comes to Korea, Vien says A+E is “very much competitive against the natural other players in the marketplace” but can also take advantage of “having an independent status from the streaming world.”
“In order to make this vision manifest it needs to engage in all kinds of partnership,” he explained.
A+E therefore co-produces with local Korean broadcasters but has also built up relationships with streamers around the world including in the States. Hit rom-com series Love in Sync, for example, airs on Hulu in the U.S. plus Disney+ in Japan and Korea. “Big global streaming platforms are our distributon partners; we work with them,” added Soh.
In this vein, the pair say they can continue taking an agnostic approach to content in one of the most exciting regions of the world, sometimes airing their content in Korea via their own networks but also pairing with local or global streamers.
As MIPCOM starts in earnest, Vien says A+E is enthused by the “extraordinary internationalization” of taste not just in Korea but in places like Latin America and Turkey, where shows are selling fluidly between territories.
“We’re very lucky that Youngsun and her team have demonstrated so much success and built such extraordinary partnerships in markets like Korea because that’s vital,” he added. “We’re very focused on finding all the ‘Hollywoods’ and building business plans that allow us to invest locally and find secondary success globally.”