A New Concept OTT is Born... 'Babayo' is Coming

IHQ Armed with Lifestyle Information Combined Content
Featuring Short-Form Format Around 15 Minutes

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] Park Jong-jin, CEO of IHQ, which is transforming into a comprehensive media group, has announced his entry into the online video service (OTT) industry. IHQ is leveraging its 27 years of accumulated variety show production capabilities to compete with short-form content.

According to industry sources on the 7th, IHQ recently launched a new mobile OTT platform called 'Babayo'.

IHQ is a comprehensive media and entertainment company operating four cable TV channels?IHQ, IHQ Drama, IHQ Show, and Sandbox Plus (+)?and has over 2 million YouTube channel subscribers. By expanding into OTT platforms, it aims to complete a virtuous content cycle connecting cable TV, web, and mobile.

Babayo's new content is composed of short-form videos around 10 to 15 minutes long. This differentiates it from most existing domestic and international OTT platforms, which mainly feature long-form content such as 1 to 2-hour movies, dramas, and documentaries. The new content will be themed around "smart variety shows" and "funny information." The strategy is to compete with infotainment content that combines information and entertainment.

With the launch of Babayo, IHQ is unveiling 26 new programs and plans to produce a total of 38 new short-form programs by the first half of the year. It will simultaneously release about 3,000 episodes from 111 existing original programs on Babayo for free and significantly expand external content acquisition to grow into a "webtoon-based video platform."

Starting in September, Babayo will integrate features such as live commerce, allowing viewers to purchase products while watching content. These include timestamp and link commerce functions. This goes beyond traditional PPL (product placement) that only appears in content, encouraging actual product purchases.

Previously, IHQ also laid the groundwork for content acquisition. In March, it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Treasure Hunter, a domestic multi-channel network (MCN) operator, for joint digital content production and marketing. The agreement includes multifaceted cooperation in content co-planning, production, acquisition, distribution, digital marketing and promotion, investment, and global expansion.

Meanwhile, Babayo uploaded dance videos of (G)I-DLE on the official IHQ YouTube channel Babayo and launched a nationwide dance challenge. Viewers will be encouraged to participate with easy dance moves matching the Babayo logo song melody and the recurring lyrics "Babayo~ Baba."

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