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Monday, May 28, 2012

[News] S. Korean entertainment agencies expand into new areas

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source: The Jakarta Post
Park Min-young, Asia News Network (The Korea Herald)


Dining, drama production and tourism business new way up for South Korean entertainment agencies.
After heating up the world, especially Asia, with the Korean Wave, South Korean entertainment agencies are starting to explore other business realms like dining, drama and musical productions and even tourism.

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 Key East, led by biggest shareholder and hallyu star Bae Yong-joon and actor Kim Soo-hyun, runs several restaurants already including Gorilla In the Kitchen in Sinsa-dong, southern Seoul; dessert caf Tea Loft in Lotte Department Store in Sogong-dong, central Seoul; and Korean cuisine restaurant Gosireh in Tokyo.

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The food and beverage business is considered as the easiest way for entertainment agencies to find a new way out as it can make the best use out of the popularity of its actors and actresses.

Experts see time agencies as having found ways to diversify income sources which had a rather weak profit-making structure relying heavily on its top stars’ TV appearance fees, endorsement fees and music album profits.

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For the same reason, agencies are creating various merchandises like bromides, T-shirts and caps with their stars’ faces on, and also stepping into musical and TV drama production businesses.

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The agency also co-produced with Key East last year the hit TV drama “Dream High.” At the time emerging stars Kim Soo-hyun and Suzy, also a member of the K-pop girl group miss A, shot to stardom through the drama.

The show reportedly earned Key East over 4.2 billion won last year, which took up 16.2 percent of its total revenue. The drama’s popularity led onto the birth of the sequel “Dream High 2” which aired earlier this year.
  
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Tourism is also rising as an attractive market for entertainment agencies.

Among the 4.98 trillion won worth of production expected to be generated through hallyu, according to Korea Foundation for International Culture Exchange last year, tourism-related productions is assumed to generate about 1.59 trillion won. Linked with hallyu concerts or fan meetings, the sector’s growth is hoped to accelerate even faster.

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It also works the other way around: tourism agencies are jumping into showbiz as well. Chess Tours which especially focus on Japanese tourists runs entertainment agency My Name Network; BS Tour, BS Star Entertainment; Jau Tour, Jau Entertainment; and Modu Tour, Tourtainment.

“As the hallyu market grows, more entertainment agencies will move to own its own travel agencies, like SM,” said Kim Gil-ho, an official at Corea Entertainment Management Association.

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For the full news, please click the link below:
The Jakarta Post

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