Thanks to ‘Woo Young-woo’, ENA sees sales grow by 67%

As ENA's sales grew by 67% last year along with an increase in channel rankings, attention is being paid to whether a successor to 'Weird Lawyer Woo Young-woo' will be created. Top actors such as Lee El, Jin Seo-yeon, Kim Tae-hee, and Lim Seo-yeon are waiting.

On the 18th, KT held the '2023 KT Group Media Day' with ENA and Studio Genie at the Novotel Ambassador Dongdaemun Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul. KT President Kang Kuk-hyeon, Studio Genie CEO Kim Cheol-yeon, and ENA CEO Yoon Yong-pil attended.

On this day, KT President Kang Kuk-hyun announced the achievements in the media content field over the past year. Last year, KT reported that sales of KT Studio Genie, ENA, Genie Music, and Millie's Study exceeded approximately 500 billion won, and the group's overall media sales recorded 4.2 trillion won, up 9% from the previous year. He also said, “It is expected that we will easily achieve KRW 5 trillion in sales by 2025.”

KT Studio Genie succeeded in turning a profit last year. Studio Genie CEO Kim Cheol-yeon said, "This is evidence that the media value chain is working well," and added, "Content investment costs are expected to be more than double what we expected. We will continue to show growth."

'Weird Lawyer Woo Young-Woo', produced by Studio Genie and aired on ENA, gained syndrome-like popularity, starting with a household viewership rating of 0.9% in the first episode and reaching a peak viewership rating of 17.5% in the last episode. In addition, the main character actress Park Eun-bin received the Baeksang Arts Award for 'Woo Young-woo', and it is considered the best drama that even advanced to the International Emmy Awards this year.

However, although several works were released after 'Weird Lawyer Woo Young-woo', none showed as much success as 'Woo Young-woo'. Regarding this, ENA CEO Kim Cheol-yeon said, "After 'Weird Lawyer Woo Young-woo' rose rapidly and became a huge hit, people around us were very worried." He added, "'Woo Young-woo' is not a new studio like ours, but an existing large studio will come out once every three years or not. "It's one work. It was written by a new writer, and it's a genre work with a top actress. So I didn't expect Post-Woo Young-woo to come out right away," he said.

He continued, “However, I am doing my best thinking that each work will be a post-Woo Young-woo. Although ‘House with a Yard’ and ‘Happiness Battle’ have slightly different targets, I believe they will be post-‘Woo Young-woo’.” .

ENA CEO Yoon Yong-pil spoke about the direction of the sustainable growth strategy for the second half of 2023 in celebration of the first anniversary of the company's founding. ENA, which was rebranded in April last year, announced that its channel ranking rose from 24th to 11th, and sales grew 67%, exceeding KRW 110.3 billion.

Starting with 'Weird Lawyer Woo Young-woo' (hereinafter referred to as Woo Young-woo), 12 drama titles including 'Good Job' and 'Frozen Love' were aired, and 17 entertainment titles including 'I Am Solo', 'World Travel on Earth and Fire' and 'Hyemi-ri Yechae-pa'. We have focused on presenting content with ENA's unique colors.

ENA CEO Yoon Yong-pil said, "It's been over a year since we opened. If I were to pick four representative works, they would be 'Weird Lawyer Woo Young-woo', which announced the new channel called ENA, 'I'm Solo', ENA's representative entertainment content, 'Earth Marble World Travel', and 'Hyemi'. “It’s ‘Liye Chapa.’ We tried to create content of various genres,” he said.

The drama lineup for the second half of the year was also introduced. CEO Yoon said, "It will be a drama that boasts more fun and immersion than 'Sky Castle'," and that 'Happiness Battle' starring EL, Jin Seo-yeon, Cha Ye-ryun, Park Hyo-joo, and Woo Jung-won, which will air for the first time on the 31st, and 'Yardang' starring Kim Tae-hee and Lim Ji-yeon will be broadcast for the first time on the 31st. He released ‘The House with This’, ‘The Day of Kidnapping’, ‘I’ve Been Waiting for You for a Long Time’, and ‘The Moon Rising During the Day’.

Next, they announced 'I am Solo, Love Continues Season 2', a spin-off of the entertainment programs 'Steel Unit 3' and 'I Am Solo', and the third collaboration project with producer Kim Tae-ho.

Ten Asia Reporter Kim Seo-yoon seogugu@tenasia.co.kr