OTT TVING Secures 250 Billion KRW FI Investment... Company Valuation Soars Past 2 Trillion KRW

JTBC and Naver Partner with ViacomCBS
Paid Subscribers Tripled Last Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] CJ ENM announced on the 18th that its online video service (OTT) subsidiary Tving has secured external investment worth 250 billion KRW. Following the investment, the company's valuation will increase to approximately 2 trillion KRW.

Company Valuation Increases Sixfold in Seven Months Since Partnership with Naver

Tving is conducting a third-party allotment paid-in capital increase targeting the special purpose company ‘Media Growth Capital No.1 Co., Ltd.’ of the financial investor (FI), private equity fund JC Growth Investment. A total of 382,513 new shares will be issued, with the payment scheduled for the 25th of this month.

After the capital increase, Tving’s valuation will reach about 2 trillion KRW. Compared to approximately 350 billion KRW right after the paid-in capital increase to Naver in July last year, this represents about a sixfold increase in just seven months. Since its launch as an independent entity, Tving has attracted investment from Naver, which holds various original IPs, following its merger with JTBC. The number of paid subscribers to Tving has tripled in just over a year since CJ ENM’s investment began in 2020, surpassing 2 million last year.

Earlier, Tving also secured equity investment worth 7 million USD (about 8.4 billion KRW) from Paramount, a production company under strategic investor ViacomCBS. This is part of the comprehensive partnership agreement signed between CJ ENM and ViacomCBS at the end of last year. ViacomCBS owns CBS, Showtime, Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon, MTV, BET, Pluto TV, as well as the OTT service Paramount+.

To secure highly competitive K-content, ViacomCBS will participate as a co-investor in the production of seven Tving originals, including ‘Yonder,’ directed by Lee Joon-ik. Tving plans to launch a Paramount+ channel within its platform in the first half of the year, showcasing ViacomCBS content such as the ‘CSI’ series, ‘Star Trek: Discovery,’ and movies like ‘Transformers’ and ‘Mission: Impossible.’

"Leap to Become the Global Number One K-Content Platform"

Leveraging this investment, Tving plans to accelerate investment in original content and actively secure IT competitiveness such as big data to grow into the ‘Global No.1 K-Content Platform.’ Tving aims to produce about 100 original contents by 2023, secure over 8 million subscribers, and directly launch services in key countries including Japan, Taiwan, and the United States.

Tving’s expanded investment aligns with CJ Group’s plan announced in November last year to invest over 10 trillion KRW over three years in four major growth engines, including platforms. CJ Group has revealed a blueprint to accelerate data-driven customer-centric management based on Tving, expand its digital territory, and ultimately nurture a super platform that builds CJ’s unique ecosystem.

A CJ ENM official said, “This investment reflects recognition of Tving’s high growth potential and differentiated original content competitiveness,” adding, “We will hasten our leap to a global platform through strengthening partnerships with domestic and international content companies and expanding aggressive investments.”

A Tving official stated, “This investment is an important turning point in expanding Tving’s value of ‘All things for every fandom’ globally,” and added, “Starting in 2022, with the release of numerous original series and further showcasing our strength in variety shows, we will continue to enhance the future growth value through K-content.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.