Tcast to Promote Story Media Commerce with Original IP 'Ryu Haksaeng Eonamseon'

Taekwang Group's media affiliate Tcast's flagship channel, E Channel, announced on the 27th that it will actively promote a story-based media commerce strategy utilizing original content IP. The first starting point is the highly anticipated entertainment program 'Ryu Haksaeng Eonamseon' in the first half of 2025.
'Ryu Haksaeng Eonamseon' is a program that captures the journey of actors Ryu Su-yeong, Yoon Kyung-ho, and Monsta X's Kihyun visiting local areas to learn about cuisines from around the world. It goes beyond simple travel and cooking entertainment to reinterpret foreign recipes in a Korean style, linking them to commercialization, and presents a media commerce model where 'content-goods-experience' are organically connected.
E Channel plans to showcase a new form of story-based media experience that naturally integrates food, travel, and lifestyle elements through this program. It will promote the commercialization of goods linked to foods, cooking tools, and the styling of cast members appearing on the show, and will implement a strategy that integrates viewing experiences and consumption through content operations that span both broadcasting and digital platforms.
In particular, the official YouTube E Channel store has already started selling various goods related to 'Ryu Haksaeng Eonamseon', such as aprons, t-shirts, hats, and kitchen towels. These products are designed to reflect the program's worldview, combining practicality and emotion, and are being highlighted as key mediators that strengthen emotional connections with the content fandom.
The pop-up store tour is also being formalized. The 'Ryuhaksik' tour, where viewers can actually taste the national representative dishes experienced by the three brothers in the program, is planned as an offline commerce centered on viewer experiences. Starting with the Portugal edition at Hyundai Department Store The Hyundai Seoul on the 31st, the Brunei edition at Hyundai Department Store Pangyo on June 21st, and the Sicily edition from July 12th, another experiential space is set to open. This tour offers a special opportunity to taste reinterpreted dishes of each country's set meal culture and purchase related products, garnering great expectations as a distribution channel that interacts with media content.
Moreover, Tcast is expanding the base of its commerce platform through a connection with the T-commerce home shopping channel 'Shopping NT'. It plans to showcase popular products and collaboration brands from the program in the form of mobile app planning exhibitions in the future, and aims to build a new distribution model that combines real-time content and shopping.
E Channel is entering a full-fledged bidirectional IP production system that expands the enjoyment of content beyond the traditional TV-based one-way content delivery method to offline experiences and interactions. It plans to evolve into a content platform that communicates more closely with viewers by realizing the 'Ryu Hak Recipe' and worldview of 'Ryu Haksaeng Eonamseon' into feasible spaces and products.
Kang Jin-won, head of Tcast's IP business team, said, "E Channel aims to provide a brand experience centered on storytelling beyond simple content consumption," and added, "We will continue to expand the media-commerce convergence model using various original IPs starting with 'Ryu Haksaeng Eonamseon'."
solidkjy@fnnews.com Gu Ja-yun Reporter