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| Mark Specht, Paramount's executive vice president and managing director for Central and Northern Europe and Asia, speaks during the media day event for the streaming service's launch in Korea with the partnership of Tving, held at Four Seasons Hotel in Jongno District, central Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of Tving |
By Lee Gyu-lee
Paramount+, the streaming service of Paramount Global, has set foot in the competitive streaming market in Korea through a partnership with the local streaming platform, Tving, Thursday, taking a step toward expanding into the Asian market.
"South Korea is a vibrant market for both streaming, the subscription business and content, as we all know. Therefore (the launch of Paramount+) is a milestone for our premium streaming business," Mark Specht, Paramount's executive vice president and managing director for Central and Northern Europe and Asia, said during a media day event held at Four Seasons Hotel in Jongno District, central Seoul.
"Asia is the future ― the future of the population, technology and creativity. Asia is the continent to be on if you want to succeed … And Korea, in particular, is a perfect place to launch our (service) for the first time and continue to expand in the Asian market."
Adding that Paramount+ will be taking a market-by-market approach in expanding its service across Asia through partnerships with the market's key players like Tving, the vice president shared that the company is also looking to roll out different projects in the future, like remakes of its licensed pieces, through a partnership with the platform's parent company, CJ ENM.
"With CJ ENM, we are not only launching Paramount+ with Tving; our partnership goes beyond the streaming service as we also have a comprehensive, strategic partnership that includes co-production, content licensing and distribution," Specht said.
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| Catherine Park, center, Paramount+'s senior vice president and the head of office and streaming for Asia, speaks during a Q&A session of the event with Tving's CEO, Jay J. Yang, right. Courtesy of Tving |
Through the partnership between the two streaming companies, Tving users will have access to the library of Paramount+'s content, including its hit originals, like sci-fi action series "Halo" and the drama series, "Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber."
Tving and Paramount+ are also set to debut seven original series they co-produced, which will include filmmaker Lee Joon-ik's directorial debut for the series, "Yonder." The co-produced series will be available through Tving in Korea and also be streamed abroad through Paramount+.
"Koreans have a high standard in content consumption but also are open to experiencing new services. And the country has the largest market in Asia," Jay J. Yang, the CEO of Tving, said. "So succeeding in Korea has become a preceding task to succeeding globally … We are purposed to become the leading service provider in Korea and move forward to the global market."
Catherine Park, senior vice president and the head of office and streaming for Asia of Paramount+, emphasized the importance of their partnership with Tving to target the local market as a newcomer.
"On the basis, Korean content is crucial in this (local) market. So we came up with the idea to join hands with Tving, which has a good understanding (of the market)," she said. "They already established a database of data collected over a long period through its users on what the Korean audience prefers and how the content should be presented … In that sense, Tving is the best partner."
