Gift for you Mr. Bae Yong Joon [Doctoral Paper]

South Korea leader in global Market of TV Dramas.
A part Dissertation [Doctoral Paper] of Roytavan.

Abstract

“Hallyu” is the phenomenon called for the popularity of South Korean pop culture in other countries, especially Asian countries. It starts from the popularity of Korean cultural media, such as TV dramas, movies, and pop music. The famous Korean TV dramas; for example, “Winter Sonata”, “Jewel in the palace”, and “Full House” make million of tourists come to visit South Korea, bringing a billion of revenue to the country, and, most importantly, encouraging Korean national image in the whole world.
Comparing to Korea, Thailand, also exports TV dramas to other countries, especially Southeast Asian countries like Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. However, Thailand has not been as internationally and widely successful with its entertainment business as Korea and its cultural entertainment products. Therefore, the researcher decided to conduct a research in South Korea because believe that Korean TV industry can be a model for Thailand for using TV dramas as a tool to increase the economic value and disseminate our own culture.


Although the popularity of Korean TV dramas comes from several factors, the main objective of this research is to study Korean TV industry structure in order to find the key success factors which affect a success of Korean TV dramas in global market. The research focuses on four bodies of Korean TV industry structure: Government, TV stations, Production companies and TV dramas creators. A methodology is conducted by finding secondary data, observing TV programs and interviewing people who work in Korean TV industry. Moreover, this research also mentions about Threats and Opportunities for Korean TV industry that is coming in the near future. Finally, the suggestion for Thai TV industry, focusing on exporting Thai TV dramas in the global market, is also proposed

Background

Television drama is one of the cultural products, which has high impact among audiences. This statement can be proven by a phenomenon of “Korean wave” which is the name given to the increasing popularity of Korean popular culture including Korean TV dramas such as Winter Sonata, Dae Jang-Geum and Full House that have gained millions of fans among many countries in Asia. The Korean Wave is otherwise known as “Hallyu” which is a Chinese pun that also translates directly into Korean. Both “cold current” and “Korean wave” are pronounced “han-liu” (or “hanryu” or “halryu” in Korean).1Hallyu has brought increased interest in and favorable disposition towards Korean popular culture, such as TV drama, movie, and music. Currently, the preference of Korean culture has expanded from merely popular culture to Korean lifestyles in general, including food, fashion, tourism (to film locations) and sports.


Compared to South Korea, Thai television dramas have also been broadcast for many years in neighboring countries such as Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and China. Still, Thailand has not been as internationally and widely successful with its entertainment business as Korea and its cultural entertainment products. Therefore, I wonder what the relevant factors that make Korean TV dramas succeed in a global market are. This quarry drove me to conduct research focusing on key success factors of Korean TV industry structure with a full support from Korean National University of Arts, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Republic of Korea. During my five-month research fellowship to South Korea (September 2006 – January 2007), I intend to figure out what “Behind the Scene” of Korean TV dramas’ success is as well as to find the way to strengthen the competencies of Thai TV industry in a global stage.
To be Continue Tomorrow.

Best Regards,

Roytavan [Kanmunee Srivisarnprob]
roytavan@hotmail.com