Short-form 'Annyeong, Oppadeul' Global No.1.. New Universe Jeong Ho-young CEO

[Financial News] The production company New Universe's 'Annyeong, Oppadeul' is showing the potential of Korean short-form content by achieving notable success on the global platform 'DramaWave'. This work, which topped the global daily chart on the 21st of last month, swept the daily, weekly, and monthly charts as of the 14th.
Jeong Ho-young, CEO of New Universe, analyzed on the 14th, "Korean short-form has never been ranked globally until now," and "It is the first record for a Korean work. It was effective to adhere to the success formula of short-form drama while adding Korea's production capabilities to the verified original."
Short-form is still in its infancy in Korea, but in China, it has surpassed theater box office sales in 2024. According to the '2024 China Web Drama Industry Research Report', the Chinese web drama market amounts to 50.5 billion yuan (about 9.5939 trillion won). 
'Annyeong, Oppadeul' is a remake of a Chinese original that leads the global short-form market. During the production process commissioned by DramaWave, a 'Korean-style upgrade' was made across character and plot composition, actors' acting tones, and styling.
CEO Jeong explained, "Despite the global popularity of K-dramas, we have proven our global competitiveness in short-form," and "We are proceeding with additional projects with DramaWave."
Previously, New Universe released the action film 'Nachal' through Japan's 'UniReel' and North America's 'SerialPlus', ranking 19th globally and 1st in the male-oriented genre. CEO Jeong emphasized 'understanding the grammar' as a success factor for short-form.
He emphasized, "Until now, Korean short-form was simply a shortened version of movie or drama grammar," and "Short-form must be designed differently from the script stage. The dialogue, plot, and development speed must be completely restructured."
CEO Jeong is an expert on China who completed high school and university in China. Although he majored in political diplomacy, he entered the entertainment industry by chance while serving as Bae Yong-joon's interpreter during the promotion of the movie 'April Snow' during his school days.
He recalled, "I felt the power of content when I saw Japanese and Taiwanese fans crying at the airport." Since then, he has been in charge of China-related business at KeyEast, J.Tune Entertainment, and experienced the overall content industry by serving as CEO of mobile game company 2DC and short-form platform Toplips.
Currently, New Universe has confirmed the production of over 10 works, including content based on BL original scripts. A work selected as a production support project by the Korea Creative Content Agency is also scheduled to be completed by October this year.
CEO Jeong said, "Our goal is to achieve global success with scripts we wrote."
We also heard about future prospects for the short-form market. First, short-form content, in addition to its advantages of low-budget and short-term production, can be the first step in the IP virtuous cycle. He said, "If it succeeds as a short-form, it can be expanded into a long-form drama or movie." 
Regarding the participation of actors, he sees that currently, the appearance fee is at the level of independent films, so it is approached from a promotional aspect, but if the market grows in the future, it can be established as a profit model. The reason is that if successful works increase, the concept of running guarantee can be introduced.
Finally, CEO Jeong predicted, "Short-form is not a format that replaces existing content but a new form that adapts to changed viewing habits," and "Long-form and short-form will progress in a complementary relationship."


jashin@fnnews.com Shin Jin-ah Reporter