Webtoon platforms venture into K-drama production

Webtoon Platforms Venture Into K Drama Production

A promotional photo for Tving's original drama, 'Study Group' / Courtesy of Tving

A promotional picture for Tving’s unique drama, „Research Group“ / Courtesy of Tving

By Park Jin-hai

Broadcasters and streaming platforms are more and more churning out TV dramas tailored from net novels and webtoons to deal with a downturn within the promoting market, rising manufacturing prices, and shrinking viewership within the content material trade.

Final 12 months, a number of dramas tailored from net novels or webtoons, together with tvN’s „Beautiful Runner,“ „Marry My Husband,“ „Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born“ and MBC’s „When the Cellphone Rings,“ proved extremely profitable. These diversifications, sometimes called tremendous mental properties (IPs), capitalize on the unique materials’s established fame and fan base.

The pattern of adapting tremendous IPs into dramas has emerged as a key technique for each conventional tv and streaming platforms, with plans to proceed this strategy this 12 months.

Naver Webtoon’s „Research Group“ might be tailored right into a Tving unique drama, whereas Netflix will launch „The Trauma Code: Heroes on Name,“ based mostly on Naver net novel and webtoon „Extreme Trauma Heart: Golden Hour.“ Kakao Webtoon’s „Bunny and Her Boys“ might be tailored into the MBC drama „Crushology 101.“

A scene from 'The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call' / Courtesy of Netflix

A scene from „The Trauma Code: Heroes on Name“ / Courtesy of Netflix

What’s noteworthy is that webtoon platforms and content material suppliers are actually instantly partaking in manufacturing, transferring past merely promoting rights as they did prior to now.

Tving’s unique „Research Group,“ set to premiere on Jan. 23, tells the story of Yoon Ga-min (Hwang Min-hyun), a pupil at a vocational highschool who desires of attending a four-year college and is pressured to battle to concentrate on his research.

Its unique webtoon has been constantly serialized since January 2019 and even after an prolonged eight-month break, it constantly held the eleventh spot within the Saturday sequence rating on Naver Webtoon. The display screen adaptation is helmed by YLAB Plex, the in-house manufacturing firm of the webtoon’s IP holder YLAB.

Netflix’s upcoming medical drama „The Trauma Code: Heroes on Name,“ starring Ju Ji-hoon, revolves round an excellent trauma surgeon who joins a struggling college hospital. The present is produced by Naver Webtoon’s subsidiary, Studio N.

The present was tailored from the favored Naver net novel „Trauma Heart: Golden Hour,“ written by a practising doctor. It has additionally been serialized as a webtoon. With over 38 million cumulative downloads, the net novel grew to become a significant hit within the up to date fantasy style and the webtoon model was equally well-received. Each net novel and webtoon are completely out there on Naver Collection since 2019.

Webtoon 'Bunny and Her Boys' / Captured from Kakao Webtoon

Webtoon „Bunny and Her Boys“ / Captured from Kakao Webtoon

Final 12 months, Kakao Leisure, which loved a halo impact when its net novel-based drama „Beautiful Runner“ grew to become an enormous hit, is now venturing into drama manufacturing.

MBC’s new drama „Crushology 101,“ slated for April, is predicated on Kakao Webtoon „Bunny and Her Boys“ and produced by the webtoon’s IP holder Kakao Leisure.

The rom-com sequence facilities on a younger lady after her first heartbreak, discovering herself surrounded by a wide range of males. The unique webtoon, which accrued over 170 million views, gained immense recognition not solely in Korea but in addition in Japan, China, Taiwan and Thailand.

With a robust fan base and confirmed story enchantment, these IPs are seen as beneficial belongings, prompting IP holding corporations to take a extra energetic function in manufacturing and share the potential income from profitable diversifications because the content material market evolves.

Having beforehand demonstrated its manufacturing capabilities in Disney+’s „The Worst of Evil“ and Netflix’s „Gyeongseong Creature“ sequence, Kakao Leisure is now using its in-house manufacturing know-how throughout its subsidiaries to develop new dramas.

„We now have one of the best understanding of our IPs, which allows us to successfully increase them into numerous content material codecs. Our latest successes like ‚When the Cellphone Rings,‘ ‚Enterprise Proposal‘ and ‚Not Others‘ have attracted each present followers and new audiences,“ a Kakao Leisure official stated.

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