'Extraordinary Attorney Woo' pulls up production company shares

Scenes from "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" / Courtesy of ENA

By Yoon Ja-young

The success of the drama "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" has pulled up the stock price of its production company, AStory. The stock price has risen more than 70 percent since the premiere of the drama.

The legal drama centering on Woo Young-woo, a genius lawyer who is on the autism spectrum, is gaining huge popularity, topping Netflix's most-watched show list not only in Korea, but also in Taiwan and Vietnam. It ranked in the top two in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand, and top three in Japan and Malaysia as of Monday, according to FlixPatrol.

AStory traded at 17,200 won when the drama premiered on June 29. But it continued its steep rise with the drama gaining viewership through word-of-mouth recommendations. The stock closed at 30,500 won on Tuesday, down 2.71 percent from the previous day and pausing six consecutive trading days' rise. But it has already risen over 70 percent since the premiere date of the drama.

“Amid fierce competition to get subscribers, over-the-top (OTT) service providers are investing to secure differentiated content. This means increasing demand on Korean drama content, an opportunity to level up their value,” said Lee Sang-heon, an analyst at Hi Investment & Securities.

“Based on this success, AStory plans to pursue a 'one-source, multi-use' strategy, which would turn its growth potential to real growth,” he said, pointing to the production company's plan to adapt the drama into a webtoon.

A poster of "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" / Courtesy of ENA

The astonishing jump in the bourse contrasts with last October, when viewers' disappointment with “Jirisan,” another drama produced by AStory, led to a stock market plunge. The drama that premiered amid high expectations thanks to star actor Jun Ji-hyun, soon faced mounting criticism from viewers regarding computer graphics and excessive product placement, and its stock price plummeted 34.7 percent for the seven trading days following its release. The failure of the much-anticipated drama coupled with a global stock market plunge that followed pulled AStory shares further down to the bottom. It traded at 16,050 won on June 24, a 68.09 percent drop from its peak, before “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” came to rescue.

DS Investment Securities expects AStory to see sales surge 88 percent to 110.6 billion won this year, while operating profit would jump 135 percent to 16.3 billion won.

The success of “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” is expected to have a positive impact on KT, as its subsidiary KT Studio Genie is also involved in the production.

“As KT's content business got on the right track, it will be reevaluated in the near future,” said Lee Seung-woong, an analyst at eBest Investment & Securities, noting the success of “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” as well as “Never Give Up,” another drama made by KT Studio Genie.