South Korean actor Kim Soo-hyun smiles during a fan ceremony. [Photograph by Yoo Dae-gil = dbeorlf123@ajunews.com]
SEOUL -- South Korea's ecommerce giant Coupang has partnered with a major domestic media content company to create an original drama series featuring popular actors Kim Soo-hyun and Cha Seung-won. The drama series titled "Some Day" is a remake of a 2008 British drama series "Criminal Justice."
Coupang, known as the South Korean counterpart of Amazon, aims to expand its presence in the country's competitive over-the-top (OTT) market dominated by Netflix, the world's top OTT service operator which has 3.8 million subscribed users in South Korea as of February 2021.
Coupang made a foray into South Korea's OTT market in December 2020 by releasing its OTT service "Coupang Play." Instead of trying hard to attract consumers that are already using other similar OTT services that cost more than 10,000 won ($9) per month, the online shopping mall operator targeted its 4.7 million premium service users who pay a monthly subscription of 2,900 won for extra fast delivery. Coupang's premium service users are given free access to Coupang Play.
The ecommerce giant said in a statement on April 26 that the company partnered with Chorokbaem Media to create an original drama series starring top K-drama actors Kim Soo-hyun and Cha Seung-won. The remake of the world-famous drama series will hit Coupang Play in November 2021.
"We will continue to offer differentiated services through Coupang Play to spice up our customers' everyday lives," Coupang Play head Kim Sung-han said, adding that the upcoming drama series will be created in the highest quality format to satisfy premium subscription users.
In January, Coupang signed supply contracts with two South Korean entertainment media content companies New Entertainment World (NEW) and Showbox. NEW and Showbox started servicing some 75 films including hit zombie-action thriller films "Train to Busan" and "Peninsula" through Coupang Play.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
