Analysis of Success Factors of Korean Web Entertainments and Development Direction.

Ki-Ri Kim*, Hye-Young Ko**

Department of Contents Design, Seoul Women’s University

621, Hwarang-or, Nowon-Gu, Seoul, 01797, Korea

Seoul, South Korea

Abstract

With the development of OTT (Over the Top) service business around the world, and the development of smartphones and mobile communication networks, the use of broadcasting media is shifting from TVs to smartphones. A proliferation of Snack Culture, broadcasters and MCN companies have begun to produce ‘Web Entertainment’, and their popularity and impact are growing. Through the success of 'Web Dramas' and export abroad cases, it is highly likely that Web Entertainment will also develop into global cultural contents. In this study, we analyze the success factors of succeeding Web Entertainment, propose the contents development method of Web Entertainment and new profit structure.

Keywords-component; Web Entertainment; Snack Culture; success keywords; profit structure

1. Introduction

With the popularization of smartphones around 2010, the development of LTE and the expansion of the wireless internet, many people have been able to enjoy internet access and web contents regardless of time and place [1]. As a result, people's consumption of contents began to change from TV to smartphone starting in 2016 [2]. People use their smartphones at breaks and when they are waiting for someone or when they move, so they prefer cultural content that can be enjoyed fast and short. As a result, the number of viewers increased who watch TV programs in the 3-5 minutes clip than who watch the whole video.

Snack Culture, a culture that is easily enjoyed in a short time, has emerged in response to such changes in the viewer’s content consumption behavior. Broadcasters and MCN companies have begun to produce Web Entertainment for Snack Culture. Among them, <Sin Seo Yu Ki> and <Big Picture> passed 100 million hits and proved the development potential of the Web Entertainment market.

Web Entertainment is likely to grow as the center of global cultural contents because the copyrights to Korean Entertainment programs are continuously exported and OTT (over the top) service, Snack Culture are world trends. However, Web Entertainment does not have stable profit structure at present. Focusing on value-added markets such as copyrights, format export and co-production in the future, Web Entertainment should continue to be produced based on stable profit structure as well as diversity and quality improvement of contents. Therefore, this study will help early planners as references to analyze the success factors of successful Web Entertainment and propose a new profit structure to help the status of the Web Entertainment.

2. Previous Studies

2.1 The Status and Definition of The Web Entertainment

Web Entertainment is entertainment contents in which broadcast on the web about 5 to 15 minutes, not on TV. Because the primary distribution network is communication, it is not applied to broadcasting law. Therefore, unlike TV broadcasting, there are no special regulations such as a mention of a brand name, program composition time and format. So, it is possible to produce various experimental contents. In the broadcasting situation where the interaction between TV and the web is active, there is relatively no restriction to the content material, and the importance of the Web Entertainment which is easy to collect the real-time reaction data of the viewers is increasing.

2.2 Possibility of Development of Web Entertainment

Web contents have entered the foreign market as well as the domestic market thanks to the Korean Wave. The web drama <EXO lives next door>, starring K-pop Idol star who the center of the Korean wave, was released throughout Asia including Taiwan, China, Japan, and Thailand [3]. The web drama <Aftereffects>, starring another Idol star "Kim Dong Jun", was exported not only to Asia but also to the United States [4]. In the case of 'Korean Entertainment shows' such as <Running Man> and <Dad, where are you going?> etc., its rights sales and exports of the foreign market are actively come to. Therefore, it is highly likely that Web Entertainment which turned 'Entertainment Shows' into 'Web Content' will become the center of global cultural contents.

3. Main Subject

3.1 The Success Measure of Web Entertainment

Prior to collecting and analyzing successful Web Entertainment, we surveyed the measure of 'Korean Web Entertainment success' scale to exclude the ambiguity of language of the word 'success'. It was distributed to the community site, SNS, and messenger for a total of five days from Aug 27, 2018 to Aug 31, 2018 and conducted online. The number of respondents was 22 men (17.1%) and 106 women (82.2%).

As a result of the survey, ' a cumulative number of playbacks' was judged to be the success criterion by the highest average 5.7109. Based on the "cumulative number of playbacks" which is the success criterion that the respondents think, I selected success Web Entertainment that <Sin Seo Yu Ki> series with 121,666,895 views and <Big Picture> with 118,066,005 views [5].

3.2 Analysis of Successful Web Entertainment

We analyzed the department of contents and profit model of <Sin Seo Yu Ki> and <Big Picture> through in-depth interviews and literature search. First, in-depth interviews were conducted with viewers who watched Web Entertainment for content analysis. Considering that web contents users are focused on the 10th to 20th generations, I selected the interviewers who watched the <Sin Seo Yu Ki> And <Big Picture>. They were respectively able to freely express their opinions and characteristics for an hour and a half, and I filled in transcripts with interview's contents and then the items mentioned in common were derived. Duplicate words and sentences were removed from the derived items and the remaining items were classified into final keywords. As a result of the analysis, the success factors of <Sin Seo Yu Ki> were total 6 things that 'the place selection', 'entertainment element idea', 'editing ability', 'realistic', 'PD awareness', ‘cast’. And as for the success factors of <Big Picture>, 4 things are derived from 'unique material', 'realistic', 'cast', and 'guest'.

According to the literature search on revenue, <Sin Seo Yu Ki> does not include CG, subtitle effect, etc., and reduces the number of production staff in order to produce with a low-budget. Revenue structure is the 30-second Internet advertising revenue in front of the program [6], and since every session is uploaded in five clips, more ad revenue is gained as page views increase. In addition, the production cost is covered through sponsorship and sales of copyright rights [7], and the possibility of direct advertising is shown in that because there is no restriction on the mention of business names.

In the case of <Big Picture>, the material itself that entertainers become a direct advertising agency in order to cover the production cost, and they use PPL using the strength of the Web Entertainment that the brand name exposure can be done [8]. Most of the filming locations were offices, and two entertainers don't take any wage. And they cast the guest who is their acquaintances to reduce their overall production costs [9].

3.3 Suggestion for Continuous Success of Web Entertainment

3.3.1 Contents Sector

As a result of the analysis of success factors, it can be seen that the keywords 'realistic' and 'cast' are important, and each differentiated strength can be seen as 'entertainment element idea' and 'unique material'. Differentiated content ideas are the most important thing in Web Entertainment that spring up everywhere. To this end, I propose to throw open the contents planning department such as Web Entertainment contents planner 's workshop or competition etc. to give viewers the opportunity to become the planners and to get as many ideas as possible at the lowest cost. It is a method that is used in the 'Web Toon' market which is more than 1 trillion won in Snack Culture [10]. It can even absorb ideas related to OSMU (One Source Multi Use) business beyond only contents planning.

3.3.2 Profit Sector

I propose that building a system that allows viewers to donate in real time through SNS. It is a thing like a 'star balloon' profit system which is being practiced on African TV by live broadcasting which can communicate vigorously, not a culture of commenting after televising the whole video. According to the results of 'Korean Web Entertainment success' survey conducted in this study, 'number of mentions in SNS' is the second highest next to ‘cumulative number of playbacks.’. As such, current Web Entertainment are being uploaded as gif or clip videos on 'Facebook', 'Instagram', and so on. Using this system is simultaneously obtaining publicity and profit because the accessibility of viewers is enhanced and receiving viewer's donations.

4. Conclusion

Since the Snack Culture has been fully established, people have become to feel natural to click on short videos. As such, if it continues to develop, Web Entertainment will become the center of global culture contents which is accessible and enjoyable freely without time and space limitations.

The results of this study are as follows: the common success keywords are 'realistic' and 'cast', and it judged the keywords which can govern a success are 'the place selection', 'unique material', 'entertainment element idea'. And the main revenue sources of Web Entertainment are 'Internet advertising' and 'PPL', and it is important to reduce production costs. We propose to throw open the planning department in order to development of contents' materials. And in the profit structure sector, it will establish own SNS get the publicity effect and I propose thing to get profit through building a system that the viewer can donate freely at the same time.

This study has limits that there are only four people who are participated in an in-depth interview for the Web Entertainment contents analysis, and no various method of study. In the future, it will be necessary to conduct extensive research to produce various high-quality Web Entertainment contents and to provide a stable profit structure.

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