Korea’s CJ ENM Commits to Massive Content Spend, Despite Headwinds

Executives from CJ ENM, Korea’s largest media and entertainment conglomerate, Friday committed to investing upwards of KRW1 billion ($750 million) per year in content.

“We continue to believe in K-content,” said group CEO Yoon Sang-hyun at an event hosted on the sidelines of the Busan International Film Festival. “By retaining our investment in content at KRW1 billion, and using our insight accumulated through global studios, theaters and OTT platforms , CJ ENM will dedicate itself to improving the film industry figures.”

Yoon and other executives from the group tried to sound optimistic about the long-term future of the business, while acknowledging severe near term headwinds.

Yoon identified the challenges as including ongoing weakness of theatrical box office in Korea (and elsewhere), changes within the streaming sector, an audience shift towards consumption of short form video and potential disruption from artificial intelligence.

“We are already making the biggest content investment of any company in Korea and we are committed to growing it further,” said Yoon.

He did not break down the figure between sectors, nor differentiate between content for exploitation by the group or TV shows made by its huge TV factory Studio Dragon for clients. And industry sources report that CJ ENM’s investment in feature films is now significantly lower than only a few years ago.

But the absolute numbers may not matter as Yoon and the others all sought to emphasize wider use of content and multi-functional exploitation across the group’s different distribution outlets. “We’ve seen that some film that disappointed in theaters can do extremely well on OTT,” said Cho Jin-ho, head of domestic business division at exhibition arm CJ-CGV.

Headwinds are multiple. Seo Jang-ho, head of content business said: “Production costs have doubled since the pre-COVID era. All TV channels are facing declines in advertising revenue, making it harder to commission new shows. And the shortfall is not being compensated by overseas sales.”

Lee Dong hyun, business innovation executive at CGV said: “In film, we are now only at 60% of peak business. Recovery is very gradual. There have been hit films, but the performance of mid-tier films has drastically declined. That gives us real concern for next year and the future.”

Choi Ju-hui, head of Tving, the streaming platform in which CJ ENM is the lead investor, said that the platform had caught up with Netflix in the Korean market. “We are only looking at a 5% subscriber growth outlook at the moment. We need to look at expanding subscribers and revenues and to align with new consumers’ needs, such as adding live baseball (KBO).”

Jang Kyung-ik who recently took the reins at Studio Dragon said, “When I joined I kept hearing the word ‘crisis.’ It is true that we have gone from producing 120 long form shows in 2022 to 105 last year and 96 this year. But I think we are now stabilizing at around 100 per year.”

The speakers gave multiple examples of content usage innovation and cross-platform exploitation. TV show, “Spice up our Love” was given differently rated versions on linear TV and R-rated Tving streaming. Another show, “A Bloody Lucky Day” saw some episodes premiere in CGV theaters a couple of days before airing on TV.

“After ten years of continuous growth in the film business, we are now in a different environment, said Jerry Ko, head of film at the group. “We are learning to focus and target our investments and aim to have our films go global.”

Headline film and TV titles for 2025 include: Park Chan-wook’s now in production feature “No Other Choice”; “Bugonia,” the Yorgos Lanthimos remake of 2003 CJ film “Save the Blue Planet”; and a series adaptation of the film “Fabricated City.”