'Channel Fixed' on LG and SK Content

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Hye-seon] Major domestic conglomerates are paying attention to the content market. Well-developed content serves as a lever to establish a foundation for corporate value creation, has a high value-added multiplier effect, and can also drive co-growth with existing businesses.

On the 25th, LG Uplus directly entered the content market and is expanding related investments. To intensify original content production, LG Uplus reorganized its CCO organization centered on PDs earlier this month. Within the CCO organization, they established 'STUDIO X+U,' a specialized content production unit, and newly created the 'Content IP Business Division' for discovering and investing in intellectual property (IP) and the 'Content Production Center' responsible for content creation. To this end, they recruited a large number of PDs.

SK Broadband is reportedly weighing the acquisition of T-cast, a content business affiliate of the Taekwang Group. The strategy is to expand content investment to increase the influence of its subsidiary Media S in cable broadcasting and enhance synergy with the online video service (OTT) Wavve. SK Telecom has entered the virtual studio market. SKT opened 'TEAM Studio,' a media content production facility of approximately 3,050㎡ (about 930 pyeong) in Pangyo Techno Valley 2. TEAM Studio is a shooting location equipped with a large LED wall stage where videos are filmed and AR·XR are applied in real-time to produce content.

There are increasing cases where successful content images have raised corporate value. KT spent a huge amount on corporate branding over decades to shed its image as a neighborhood telephone company, but what truly realized this aspiration was the success of the drama 'Extraordinary Attorney Woo.' KT invested about 20 billion KRW in producing the 16-episode series. The industry estimates the economic ripple effect of this drama to be more than 20 times the production cost.

The Woo Young-woo IP is being expanded into one-source multi-use content, so the economic effect is expected to grow further. Currently, Woo Young-woo wine and Woo Young-woo kimbap are selling like hotcakes. KT's corporate value has also risen. Since the beginning of this year, KT's stock price has jumped nearly 20%. According to a report by the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute, the economic effect of the movie 'Parasite' exceeds 3 trillion KRW. Due to the anticipation of JTBC's 'The Youngest Son of a Chaebol Family,' the stock price of the production company Lemon Rain rose from 23,300 KRW on the 18th before airing to 37,960 KRW on the 24th. This means the stock price increased by 62% in five days.

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