Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 569 Korean Entertainment is Over
There was no official document for the "ban on Korean entertainment," and the State Administration of Radio and Television did not even notify TV stations, video platforms, and film and television companies of the ban in any informal form. However, it was a tacit understanding between the industry and even the whole country.

Even if you ask the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the General Administration of Customs, they will only say that they still welcome South Korean performances and cooperation in China in accordance with laws and regulations.

But if you actually submit an application, it just won't be approved.

Needless to say, the THAAD incident aroused the indignation of the Chinese people, and it also caused a great shock in the film and television industry.

Autumn Film Studio doesn't have any significant business dealings with South Korea, so its losses are negligible.

As for Li Qiutang's statement that the Korean entertainment industry is finished, many people felt that the boss was making a mountain out of a molehill. However, Li Qiutang made a special trip back to the company the next day to hold a regular meeting with senior executives, emphasizing that he was not exaggerating.

"China is the largest importer of Korean entertainment products. How much money does Korean entertainment make from China every year? Once it loses the Chinese market, South Korea's small domestic market simply cannot support the Korean entertainment industry. I dare say that Korean entertainment will definitely expand into the European and American markets in the future, but the results will not be very good. At most, it will promote one or two representative artists, but the vast number of mid-to-lower-level artists who form the foundation of the industry will have a very difficult time. Europe and America are at the forefront of popular culture, and coupled with cultural barriers, their demand for Korean entertainment products will not be very high. The Korean entertainment training system is like raising parasites, so if it loses the Chinese market, Korean entertainment will surely die."

"When I say 'death,' I don't mean the Korean entertainment industry is finished. I mean its growth will slow down or even stop, leaving it barely alive. There will still be hit shows, but the money earned will only be enough to keep it afloat; it won't be able to develop further."

"Like the Hong Kong entertainment industry now?"

"almost."

When things got excited, Li Qiutang couldn't help but ramble on: "I noticed that Netflix has launched a global strategy. Their first stop in Asia is South Korea. In the first few years, South Korean companies may be able to resist due to their local advantages and Netflix's inability to adapt to the local market. But in a few years, once Netflix recovers, the South Korean film and television industry will definitely be overwhelmed by Netflix."

“Netflix might be able to create a global blockbuster like House of Cards in South Korea, and then people will definitely say that K-pop is going global. But Netflix takes all the profits from such a super blockbuster, so how much will be left for South Korea? And this is just Netflix. If other streaming platforms in Europe and America follow Netflix into the South Korean market, given the overall atmosphere of South Korean society that worships foreign things, it will be worse for South Korean film and television to be hanging on by a thread than to be dead.”

Li Qiutang's statement that South Korean society as a whole is obsessed with foreign things is not just empty talk. He has collaborated with several South Korean special effects companies multiple times and has also visited South Korea many times to inspect and supervise special effects production. His observations over the years confirm his belief that South Korean society is obsessed with foreign things.

South Korean society, from top to bottom, is enthusiastic about golf, an expensive sport.

It's fine for rich people to play golf, but ordinary people and even poor people in South Korea also love to play golf.

South Korea is such a small place, how many golf courses can they build?

Why do people love playing golf? Because playing golf makes you look rich, and also because Americans love to play it.

In an effort to cater to the West, Koreans abandoned their traditional dish—fragrant meat.

Koreans have a tradition of eating fragrant meat, and this traditional diet is still maintained by Koreans in my country. Li Qiutang tried it in Yanbian and found it to be quite good, but South Koreans refuse to eat it anymore.

This is because it is detrimental to the country's international image.

But this only fools the lower classes in South Korea. The wealthy people in Gangnam will still eat it, just not as openly.

Li Qiutang also recalled a conversation she had with the director of the special effects company while fishing in South Korea.

Li Qiutang felt that South Korea and East China had similar geography and climate, and that fishing in South Korea usually involved catching carp and mandarin fish.

But the Korean director said that Koreans like to fish for bass, but not for carp or mandarin fish.

Li Qiutang thought it was because Koreans didn't eat much freshwater fish, but the supervisor said the reason wasn't that complicated. It was very simple: Americans like to fish for bass, so Koreans also like to fish for bass. Li Qiutang was dumbfounded when she heard this; the reason was indeed simple and outrageous.

This also includes the fact that South Koreans love coffee because Americans love it; South Koreans are obsessed with Americano, especially iced Americano. South Korea, with a population of 5000 million, is the world's third-largest coffee consumer market, with each person consuming an average of 370 cups of coffee per year.

Speaking of Netflix, the general manager of the overseas business division said, "Netflix approached us before, saying they wanted to use our services to get through the review process so that Netflix could enter the mainland market."

No one reported this to Li Qiutang.

I won't go into the specifics, but in the end, they still couldn't resolve Netflix's review issues by the fall.

After listening, Li Qiutang said, "We couldn't have let Netflix in anyway. The law stipulates that foreign capital cannot enter the film and television culture and media industry. Netflix is ​​unwilling to form a joint venture and will not accept domestic censorship."

Moreover, Netflix's subscription model may not be feasible in the country.

After saying all that, a colleague from the company's strategic investment department suddenly had a brilliant idea and suggested that they take the opportunity to buy up some Korean entertainment assets at rock-bottom prices, since the cooling of relations between the two countries would definitely affect the stock prices of Korean entertainment companies.

But Li Qiutang countered, "What do we want to gain from investing in Korean entertainment? Is it simply to buy when the stock price is low and then sell it two years later, or is there something about Korean entertainment that we should import?"

Li Qiutang does not oppose the company making global investments, but he still hopes that the company can focus on innovation in its core film and television business and that the investments made by the company can effectively supplement its core domestic business.

“The most valuable asset of the Korean entertainment industry is their talent development system, especially the trainee system,” Li Qiutang also had to admit. “We are a film company, we don’t need trainees.”

Li Qiutang joked, "I even wanted to invest in Netflix and use their platform to send our films overseas, but they ignored us."

Li Qiutang personally bought Netflix stock a long time ago, not too much, not too little, and has made a profit over the years. However, the amount of stock he holds is enough to buy a few houses, but not enough to facilitate cooperation between the two companies.

Autumn Pictures focuses on film development and has achieved remarkable results, which gives it the confidence to look down on Korean entertainment. However, Autumn Pictures also has a subsidiary called Mubu Culture, which focuses on internet entertainment. This company wants to gain some benefits from this incident. This company acts differently from Autumn Pictures; they are much bolder.

To draw an analogy, Mubu Culture is to Autumn Pictures what Youthful Brilliance is to Brilliance Media. Youthful Brilliance is Brilliance Media's brand targeting young people, while Mubu Culture is Autumn Pictures' internet entertainment brand.

Since its establishment in 13, the company's performance has not been great; it has experienced both losses and profits, but it has been able to support its dozens of employees without much trouble.

This year, domestic girl groups have seen explosive growth. Zhejiang TV has "Lady Bees", Tomato TV has "Go! Girls", and Hunan TV will launch "Summer Sweetheart" this summer. SNH48, the most successful girl group in China, also launched the sub-groups BEJ48 and GZ48 in April, moving towards the model of a 4-member girl group.

Mubu Culture also wanted to produce a girl group program, but it couldn't find the right approach. Its parent company, Autumn Pictures, doesn't handle talent agency business and has no experience in program production, so it could only offer very limited assistance to Mubu Culture.

However, this THAAD incident has served as a reminder to Mubu Culture that lack of experience is not a problem; they can simply purchase the copyright from South Korea!
Doesn't South Korea have an easy time producing girl group auditions?

During this sensitive period, since China and South Korea cannot cooperate on production, Mubu Culture can buy the copyright and produce its own domestic version—this is not prohibited.

Mubu Culture has its eye on a girl group audition program called "Produce 101".

(End of this chapter)