Russian content distributors and online platforms acquired 26 projects from South Korean companies for $1.2 million

Russian content distributors and online platforms purchased 26 projects from South Korean companies for $1.2 million, Kommersant has learned. Streaming companies are also interested in the exclusive purchase of rights to localize content in Russian. Market participants admit that South Korean projects remain not very popular among the mass user. But they are cheap – the entire amount of completed transactions is equal to the cost of producing two series of the original project in the Russian Federation.

Korean media companies MBS, SBS, KBS, SLL, KT Genie, Lian, Young & Contents, 38c, Carry Soft, Grafizix sold 26 projects (series and films) to Russian companies as part of the World Content Market 2024 exhibition (held on March 5-6 in Almaty). distributors, Kim Se-woo, a representative of the state-owned South Korean Creative Content Agency (KOSSA), told Kommersant. The total amount of the transactions amounted to $1.2 million (110 million rubles), KOSSA refused to name the buyers. The projects included “Kairos” (can be found on Kinopoisk), “Empress Ki” (“Ivi”), “A-ran and the Magistrate” (“Ivi”) and others. Ivy, MBS, SBS, KBS, SLL, KT Genie, Lian, Young & Contents, 38c, Carry Soft, Grafizix did not respond to Kommersant, and Kinopoisk declined to comment.

“Russian OTT (online video) platforms have begun to request from Korean companies the exclusive right to localize in Russian,” added Kim Se-woo. He explained that usually Korean platforms sell rights to global OTT streamers for localization in all languages ​​at once. But due to the fact that now foreign platforms do not need the Russian language, streamers from the Russian Federation are applying for it.

Domestic distributors and streaming services began purchasing South Korean content after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine due to the departure of large international producers such as Sony, Universal, Disney, and Warner. Last year showed that these projects are not in great demand among Russian viewers, RBC wrote in January, citing representatives of online cinemas. However, despite the growth in the production of original projects (their number increased by 35% in 2023 to 2022), the satisfaction factor of users of online cinemas is measured by the variety of content, including foreign, clarifies the general director of Expocontent Alexandra Modestova: “Therefore, the request for content acquisition and localization is definitely there.”

The surge in attention to Korean products was provoked, in particular, by the thriller “The Squid Game,” says Daria Pugacheva, director of the research department at Gazprom Media Holding: “But no other Korean film or series has been able to generate the same interest. This can be explained by the large difference in cultures.” But Korean content costs platforms much less than producing original projects, and allows them to expand their libraries, she clarifies. Thus, the total amount of transactions for the sale of 26 titles (titles) can be equated to the average price of production of two episodes of the original Russian series, Kommersant’s interlocutor in the media market estimates: “Online platforms simply “knock out” content units in libraries to the levels that were before departure of foreign majors.”

Ms. Modestova also confirms the “trend towards localization.” “Speaking of global OTT studios, streaming services such as Netflix and Disney+ refused to localize content into Russian back in 2022, and not so long ago Apple TV+, which is currently available in Russia, stopped localizing new ones into Russian projects,” she explains. Previously translated titles, the expert notes, are still available in Russian on Netflix and Apple TV+, while Disney+ has removed Russian-language subtitles and dubbing from the service.

Kion clarifies that some foreign platforms retain the right to localize in Russian: “But there are also examples when the rights remain with the studio or manufacturer. In this case, they can be purchased on the territory of the Russian Federation and a localized version can be created.” However, notes Alexandra Modestova, it is worth considering that Russian is the ninth most common language in the world, it is spoken by about 300 million people with a population of the Russian Federation of about 146 million: “Therefore, although global platforms have refused to localize content into Russian, it is completely excluded an international request for it is not possible.”

Yulia Yurasova