K-content storytelling needs to continue to evolve to target global audiences: industry

Jang Min-ji, an associate professor of media at Kyungnam University, speaks during the online conference, “2021 KOCCA Forum,” organized by the Korea Creative Content Agency, Wednesday. Courtesy of KOCCA

By Lee Gyu-lee

The growing popularity of Korean content around the world has proven that its power of storytelling appeals to a broader, global audience beyond Korea.

For K-content to continue its momentum, people in the content industry said that storytelling needs to continue to develop in various genres as well as devise ways to make use of its intellectual property (IP) on various platforms.

Jang Min-ji, an associate professor of media at Kyungnam University, said that the increasing competition in over-the-top (OTT) services has led to drastic changes in the content market and that creators need to respond to it.

“We are at a time when we need to reassess the power of the 'K-story' and discuss how we can utilize (the content's) IP by studying previous cases of expanding IP through multiple outlets,” she said during the state-run Korea Creative Content Agency's online conference, “2021 KOCCA Forum,” Wednesday.

“In the past, (the content) needed to fulfill certain criteria to become globally accepted. But with the rise of OTT services, it's no longer the case,” Jang added.

She said that such increasingly fierce competition requires platforms to call for more supply of content so as to keep their users.

“As the number of media platforms have expanded, they need content to increase their competitive advantage in the market. So it's inevitable to take stories that already have been developed and expand on them … To continuously feed the users with new content, media franchises are expected in future,” she said, adding that creators and producers should also consider franchising their stories.

Naver Webtoon's contents business development team leader, Lee Hee-youn, speaks during the online conference, “2021 KOCCA Forum,” organized by the Korea Creative Content Agency, Wednesday. Courtesy of KOCCA

Lee Hee-youn, the head of the content business development team at Naver Webtoon, noted that the Korean webtoons' expansion in the global market has broken down the barriers on what kind of content appeals to audiences beyond Korea and what does not.

“In the past, webtoons were only serviced in Korean, but now they are translated and offered overseas almost concurrently. And as creators of different backgrounds and languages take part in bringing different creative works, (the webtoons) also came to be made in different formats like web series, games and dramas,” he said. “It's important to grasp what people's interests are and how we can put them into our content.”

Lee emphasized that the concept of the story has less of an effect on whether it will resonate in the global market than one might assume, citing Apple TV+'s latest hit, “Pachinko,” as an example.

“I used to doubt whether we should create a story about Korea's history as 'global' content. But I've witnessed how positively people around the world responded to 'Pachinko,'” he said. “After all, it's all about how we deliver the story and the meaningful messages we put in it.”