EXCLUSIVE: Korean entertainment powerhouse CJ ENM is readying a bumper slate of 65 projects this year after boosting its content budget by 10% despite what its head honcho terms a “subdued” local market.

In an exclusive trade interview, CEO Yoon Sang-hyun labeled 2025 the “first official year of global expansion” and revealed that content spend will shoot up this year to $818M — up from the $750M that was announced on the sidelines of the Busan film fest last year.

In a wide-ranging discussion, Yoon provided insight into this mega content warchest, CJ’s global partnerships with the likes of Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) and Fifth Season, preparing for a possible re-entry into the Chinese market as well as international expansion plans for OTT platform TVING. He also shared more details about TVING’s merger with domestic platform Wavve along with fresh strategies to push music content platform MNET Plus and CJ ENM’s e-commerce arms.

Although CJ ENM, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary, has been active abroad for several years, Yoon said that he is treating 2025 as the first official year to meet his goal to “accelerate our presence in the global market in a much more focused and strategic way.”

The entertainment conglomerate has been involved in some of Korea‘s biggest global hits including Parasite, Decision to Leave, Taegukgi and The Admiral: Roaring Currents. CJ ENM also produces series through its Studio Dragon and CJ ENM Studios arms.

At the same time, Yoon — who became CEO of CJ ENM last year after serving as boss of CJ ENM’s Commerce Division for two years — remains cautious over the gloomy outlook in the Korean entertainment industry.

“The Korean film market is still facing many challenges, and as a result, many distributors and investors have been scaling back their investments,” Yoon says. “The overall market has become very subdued. Despite the dire situation here in the film market, CJ ENM remains committed to growing its film business.”

A key part of this movie biz growth came with a restructuring earlier in March with the installation of industry veteran Jung Hyun-joo as head of CJ ENM’s film business, while former head Jerry Kyoungboum Ko shifted to a new role as head of the company’s global film projects.

“We’ve made ongoing efforts toward global expansion in the past, but up until now, a lot of that has been focused on exporting Korean films and dramas overseas,” says Yoon. “What we’re aiming for now is something more structural, so this means co-development and co-produced content with global studios, while also expanding our platforms internationally. That way, we can build a sustainable ecosystem where Korean content is not only produced consistently, but also distributed globally. That’s why we’re calling this the first official year of global expansion.”

He also points to a significant rise in Korean production costs as “another big factor” in CJ ENM’s global ambitions. “In order to go beyond just covering costs and actually secure margins and reinvest, we realized that we need to build this structurally global business model, and that urgency has really pushed us to take a step,” adds Yoon.

Inside CJ ENM’s $818M Budget

When asked to break down last year’s content spend, Yoon said that roughly half was allocated to Korean drama production, while the remainder was spent on variety shows, followed by music and then film. This year the outfit is readying 65 projects including 35 series.

For this year, his first priority is a given — to make good content — and his second is to strengthen CJ ENM’s digital platforms, which includes TVING, music content platform MNET Plus and mobile live commerce platform (which runs under the brand, CJ OnStyle).

On the content front, CJ ENM is laser focused on high-profile co-productions such as Yorgos Lanthimos’ Bugonia, the remake of South Korean sci-fi comedy Save the Green Planet, which is also CJ IP. The Greek director has once again cast his muses Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons. Focus Features will release Bugonia in the U.S. and Universal Pictures is distributing the title internationally (excluding South Korea).

Warner Brothers and CJ ENM also inked a production pact for Korean- and English-language film remakes in November last year. Warner Bros. Motion Pictures will act as lead studio on English-language titles from CJ ENM’s library, and CJ ENM will be lead studio on a Korean-language projects from the Warner Bros. Pictures library.

It is still early days for this collaboration, Yoon says, and there are no titles ready to be announced under the deal. However, he shares that Warner Bros. and CJ ENM are currently in the process of exchanging a list of around 20 IP-driven projects in this initial stage, with the goal of eventually producing film remakes.

“Warner Brothers has an extensive catalog of major IPs, so we’re also identifying titles that can be localized for the Korean market,” says Yoon. “We’re not limited to any genre, and we’re looking at the overall catalog.”

Yoon emphasizes that the Warner Brothers partnership is just one global deal of many that CJ ENM has unveiled in the last year.

“We’re actively working with several major Hollywood studios, not just Warner Bros, but also Paramount, Skydance and others. With Warner Bros, we made a more formal agreement to prioritize remakes together, with our vice-chairwoman, Miky Lee, also playing a key role in making that collaboration happen,” says Yoon. Paramount+, however, was taken off TVING last year and the pair have not renewed their partnership.

In January 2022, CJ turned heads by buying an 80% majority stake in Fifth Season (formerly Endeavor Content), before selling 25% of its ownership stake to Japanese studio Toho in December 2023. The journey has been far from smooth sailing, with restructuring and layoffs across Fifth Season in March last year. Yoon attributes these challenges to post-Covid-19 knock-on effects as well as the Hollywood strikes.

“To be honest, we think that some of the effects may still carry into this year,” says Yoon. “Some of the development projects we had in the pipeline could have moved forward but due to the disruptions, including the strikes, [this] naturally led to some risks, but we’re still optimistic.”

He flags the runaway success of Severance Season 2 on Apple TV+ as a turning point in the Fifth Season journey.

“Our goal here is to continue generating these kinds of global project successes in a sustainable and a scalable way,” says Yoon. “Building on that momentum, we’re seeing more opportunities to pitch and sell those upcoming titles to a range of platforms, so we’re hopeful that this year will mark a real turning point, both in terms of content output and then financial recovery.”

CJ ENM has other strings to its bow. The live commerce platform is ” not only growing in Korea, but also expanding globally, with the goal to showcase and sell K-beauty and K-fashion to international audiences,” says Yoon. MNET Plus, which has been available in more than 227 countries since launching in 2022, is being re-positioned for a digital future.

“We’re transforming it into a content-driven and fan-based platform tailored for the digital environment, and we’re beginning to scale that up this year,” he says, noting that MNET Plus has seen a 26% increase in subscribers and plus-70% growth in monthly active users.

“The world is getting more complicated and complex, and with channels, there has been a rapid shift from linear to digital. The platform landscape has become increasingly fragmented. But even in this environment, we believe that creating well-made content remains the most essential priority in our industry.”

Yoon’s cross-market approach to entertainment comes with the experience of spending nearly three decades in different roles with the Korean conglom. After joining CJ in 1999, he worked in the finance team and held positions in portfolio strategy as well as in mergers and acquisitions, before becoming the Head of Business Strategy. He then moved to CJ Logistics, where he served as the Head of Management Support, before moving to CJ ENM in 2022.

Chinese and Japanese relations

Drawing on his varied experience, Yoon has pushed CJ to make inroads in China and Japan recently, forging a three-year partnership with Japanese broadcaster TBS last year, focusing on co-production. Under the pact, CJ and TBS commit to producing at least three television series and two films together within the next three years. The co-produced series will air on TBS television channels, with one already scheduled for a primetime slot this year.

Turning to China, Yoon says that he has not heard any positive news around the lifting of its restriction on Korean films but is preparing nonetheless.

“Although it’s not officially acknowledged, it’s true that the Chinese market has been challenging for Korean content due to the so-called import restrictions,” says Yoon. “If the market does open up again, we believe that it would present a strong opportunity for CJ ENM.”

However, this has not prevented Yoon’s team from laying the groundwork in China in case the restrictions are lifted in future.

“We’ve been working quietly to build up relationships with key stakeholders in China so that when the time comes, our Korean content will be well-positioned to re-enter the market,” he adds.

CJ ENM is also focused on expanding its musical reach into China and the Middle East. Referring to CJ ENM’s “music creative ecosystem” or “MCS” — the company’s acronym for its specific management, production and branding for music, Yoon says: “In the music space, we’re aiming to scale our MCS program globally. We’ve already built strong expertise and success in Japan, and now we’re looking to extend that best practice into greater China and Middle East.”

Netflix: a “win win relationship”

CJ ENM has a continuously-evolving collaborative and competitive relationship with Netflix in the South Korean market. On one hand, CJ ENM works with Netflix via StudioDragon and CJ ENM Studios to co-produce and distribute shows. On the other, CJ ENM’s streaming platform TVING competes fiercely with Netflix domestically for subscribers, attention and growth.

Yoon says the relationship can be “win win.” “Going forward, we think it’s important to have a healthy competitive dynamic between global and local OTTs, each with their own strengths and focus,” he adds.

CJ ENM and Netflix have co-produced the likes of Gyeongseong Creature, Doona!, Kingdom: Ashin of the North and Sweet Home. Yoon says Netflix has been “hugely important” for Korean content but sounds a note of caution. “At the same time, although there are other factors too, platforms like Netflix have also have contributed to rising production costs in drama and film, which have been a real challenge on the production side. It’s one of the side effects of that global exposure.”

Yoon says that the decision on whether a CJ show goes to Netflix, TVING or another platform is made strategically on a “case-by-case” basis.

Live sports

Merger talks between TVING and domestic platform Wavve have been ongoing over the last two years, but Yoon says that he is still unable to commit to a specific timeline.

“There are so many stakeholders involved, including their shareholders, content providers, and government bodies that handle the regulatory approvals,” he says. “It’s a process that requires ongoing dialogue and consensus-building, so we don’t yet have a clear timeline for completion, but the integration efforts are still moving forward.”

For TVING, Yoon says that his main goal this year is to expand the OTT platform beyond Korea into international markets, building into his plan for global expansion.

Another key strategy for TVING is a concerted push into live sports, which Yoon says has played a major role in both subscriber retention and attracting new subs, mirroring the big American streamers.

Securing the live streaming rights to the KBO League marked a major coup for TVING and the wider OTT landscape, as sports broadcasting in South Korea had long been seen through a linear prism.

Domestic competitor Coupang Play is now the sole broadcaster of several popular overseas soccer leagues, including Germany’s Bundesliga for the 2024-25 season as well as the domestic K-League.

Yoon says that it is not just about acquiring live sports rights, but also bringing a new viewing experience for audiences that go beyond linear. A major part of his team’s job has revolved around convincing local sports stakeholders that an OTT platform is the future of sports broadcasting.

“It was so unfamiliar to the Korean Baseball Organization and the team owners at first,” says Yoon, who cites the likes of extra short-form sports content and integrating real-time data, which eventually won over the skeptics.

Outside of baseball, CJ ENM has secured comprehensive rights to Korea’s basketball league as well, from the 2024-2025 season through to the 2027-2028 season. This four-year contract includes broadcasting rights, video business rights, and overseas broadcasting rights. Yoon says that TVING will become part of its broadcasting strategy in the near future.

“It’s not just about acquiring the broadcasting rights,” he says. “Our goal is to tailor and enhance the viewing experience for each sport, so we would offer differentiated services that go beyond traditional coverage.”

To celebrate the company’s 30th anniversary this year, CJ ENM unveiled a “Visionary Selection” featuring 30 milestone titles from the content library. This selection includes films Extreme Job, Joint Security Area, Parasite, Snowpiercer and Veteran, as well as shows like Guardian: The Lonely and Great God, My Mister, The Reply series (Reply 1997, 1994, 1988) and Signal.

“For the past 30 years, CJ ENM has worked through many challenges to help grow and globalize Korean content,” says Yoon. “Looking ahead, we hope to continue playing a key role in ensuring that Korean content remains a sustainable and influential force on the global stage for the next 30 years.”