{"id":925261,"date":"2026-10-12T09:34:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T09:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/925261\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T09:34:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T09:34:12","slug":"k-pop-stars-key-to-success-of-ae-global-media-in-korea-says-vien","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/925261\/","title":{"rendered":"K-Pop Stars Key To Success Of A+E Global Media In Korea, Says Vien"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tEXCLUSIVE: A+E<\/a> Global Media is leaning into the \u201cextraordinary power\u201d of K-pop<\/a>, and has been for some time.<\/p>\n

\n\tInternational boss Patrick Vien and Korea<\/a> chief Youngsun Soh detailed a strategy that taps into the popularity of K-pop stars from those first breaking through at local agencies to when they become global success stories.<\/p>\n

\n\tThey were speaking with Deadline as A+E, which recently rebranded from Networks to Global Media to reflect its worldwide reach, soon turns 10 in Korea, having launched the History and Lifetime channels there in 2017. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere are different buckets to what we do but the extraordinary power of K-pop plays a very important creative role in the kinds of shows we make and the casting choices we make, which influences our success,\u201d said Vien. \u201cTo me that\u2019s one of the most interesting aspects of our story. We used to live in one Hollywood and now we live in several, and Korea is one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSoh summarized: \u201cIf there is a recognizable K-pop idol talent in a show, this title will have great potential.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tWhen Deadline chats with the pair on the eve of MIPCOM<\/a>, where A+E will once again have a big presence on the Croisette, Vien and Soh come with receipts. <\/p>\n

\n\tOf the 14 original Korean drama series A+E has made since 2017, the vast majority have featured K-pop talent. These include Astro singer Cha Eun-woo, who has 46 million Instagram followers and starred in A Good Day to Be a Dog, Got7\u2019s Park Jin-young (10 million Instagram followers) from A+E\u2019s The Witch, and, most recently, CNBLUE\u2019s Jung Yong-hwa, who is leading new Lifetime series Oh! My Guard<\/a> <\/a>alongside rising star Hong Seung-hee. The romance series follows a melodramatic star with a devastating secret, and a woman who, after an accident, comes to believe she is the heroine of his drama.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe have this expertise and area of specialty to build mainstream, K-pop-backed scripted shows that work on big network television in Korea, can work on Lifetime, and can work on streaming platforms like Hulu,\u201d said Vien.<\/p>\n

\n\tA+E has a \u201csolid relationship with the local community\u201d and this helps with talent relations, according to Soh. While sometimes A+E will attract a K-pop star once they are already established, A+E is also working closely with the local Korean management companies that blood the next generation such as Fantagio, FNC Entertainment and BH Entertainment in order to spot them early. <\/p>\n

\n\tAnother way to spotlight this talent is via digital. Alongside its 14 dramas and 72 unscripted shows, A+E has now made 47 YouTube series, the company said, while in the days leading up to MIPCOM it revealed a push into microdrama, an exploding trend that started life in Asia.<\/p>\n

\n\tOne YouTube standout, which also features K-pop stars, is Nego King. Now into its eighth season, Soh reveals this one has amassed more than 200 million total YouTube views, which is four times Korea\u2019s population.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the long-running web series, hosts interview everyday consumers on the street and then negotiate massive product discounts directly with company bosses, securing bargains for contestants.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThis has become a proven concept where people can enjoy the creative behind the show but at the same time buy stuff through the show,\u201d added Soh. <\/p>\n

\n\tBeing \u201cindependent from the streaming world\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tPatrick Vien and Youngsun Soh. Image: A+E Global Media<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tA+E was talking up its K-pop chops just over a year after Netflix\u2019s KPop Demon Hunters<\/a> nearly broke the internet and tore up the streamer\u2019s viewing charts, while Disney has been seeking the next big K-pop hit via a 10-project deal plus culture fund <\/a>with Kakao Entertainment.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen it comes to Korea, Vien says A+E is \u201cvery much competitive against the natural other players in the marketplace\u201d but can also take advantage of \u201chaving an independent status from the streaming world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIn order to make this vision manifest it needs to engage in all kinds of partnership,\u201d he explained. <\/p>\n

\n\tA+E therefore co-produces with local Korean broadcasters but has also built up relationships with streamers around the world including in the States. Hit rom-com series Love in Sync, for example, airs on Hulu in the U.S. plus Disney+ in Japan and Korea. \u201cBig global streaming platforms are our distributon partners; we work with them,\u201d added Soh. <\/p>\n

\n\tIn this vein, the pair say they can continue taking an agnostic approach to content in one of the most exciting regions of the world, sometimes airing their content in Korea via their own networks but also pairing with local or global streamers. <\/p>\n

\n\tAs MIPCOM starts in earnest, Vien says A+E is enthused by the \u201cextraordinary internationalization\u201d of taste not just in Korea but in places like Latin America and Turkey, where shows are selling fluidly between territories.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re very lucky that Youngsun and her team have demonstrated so much success and built such extraordinary partnerships in markets like Korea because that\u2019s vital,\u201d he added. \u201cWe\u2019re very focused on finding all the \u2018Hollywoods\u2019 and building business plans that allow us to invest locally and find secondary success globally.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE: A+E Global Media is leaning into the \u201cextraordinary power\u201d of K-pop, and has been for some time.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":925262,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[214153,246419,64,63,134,9975,943,28936,125592,128368,136,493037,128369],"class_list":["post-925261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-ae","tag-ae-global-media","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-k-pop","tag-korea","tag-kpop-demon-hunters","tag-mipcom","tag-mipcom-cannes","tag-music","tag-oh-my-guard","tag-tv-markets"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=925261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/925262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=925261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=925261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=925261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}