YG Entertainment Enters K-dramas by Forming Production Company YG Studio Plus

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• I thought it was a SM C&C production because it had some of its artists sing for the OST and also putting their idols in the drama. But when I check, it's really is YG. They even have their artists sing for the drama.

• YG and its partner hit big with Moon Lovers for licensing revenues. It's probably the biggest for 2016 dramas even bigger than DOTS.

  They earned big in China with the highest price tag to date plus they are also milking in the Japanese market even up to now.

  I wonder who's fault was it that it didn't much rate as expected in Traditional TV index domestically. Was it SBS or YG? But the drama won Best Korean Brand though and did pretty good in the CPI rating. These are the indicator for advertisers actually.

  • I think competition killed them with Moonlight getting all the buzz. I also think some of the anti-Chinese vibe going on (because of the THAAD and banning of Korean entertainers hurt MLs as well as it was produced with an eye to the international market). I'm not going to touch on quality because regardless of what people think of Moon Lovers, mediocre dramas can and do get high ratings when things align right.

    • That Moonlight is getting killed by Scarlet Heart ratings wise and advertising wise in my country, Im not from China btw, both broadcasted same timeslot on competing tv stations. In an hour Episode, Moonlovers only play for 10-15 minutes while the rest of the hour are advertisements, yah I cant stand it I just finished it online instead. Lee Jun Ki is sooo pretty!

    • Yeah, I was speaking specifically to when ML's aired live in Korea. I do get that internationally ML's did well.

    • ML was not affected by THAAD. It was sold to China by Youku for $400K per episode, that makes it the most expensive K-drama ever sold. Mango TV also bought the licensing rights for undisclosed amount.

      It was Moonlight which was affected by THAAD. LOTBS was not even sold to China when they have JJH & LMH.

    • Again, I was specifically talking about the Korean audiences view of the drama as noted by @Sam "I wonder who's fault was it that it didn't much rate as expected in Traditional TV index domestically". Yes, China paid a lot of $ for it didn't get good ratings in Korea.

    • @Kat
      Korea and China are two different audience or market. ML did very well in China.

      ML may not have rated well in TV index but it did rate in CPI higher than Moonlight.

      I'd say I think there was something wrong in the Marketing of the drama. SBS could be at fault. They are the only broadcaster which did not do well. Even OneTV in the SG/Malysia/Indonesia got at as high as at least 70% in rating.

    • I know they are two different markets, and I was responding to the poster about why ML didn't do as well ratings wise in Korea. I am NOT talking about how it did in China or other parts of Asia etc. I do understand that they sold it for major bucks per episode to China.

      A poster on another site who was living in Korea when it aired said there was no buzz in Korea about Moon Lovers. It was all about Moonlight. That's one person saying that, but it does lead me to believe that the marketing in Korea was perhaps lackluster. I liked Moon Lovers (except for the very rushed last three episodes), and actually liked the ending better than the novel or the C-drama version. I say this because I think you think I'm dissing the drama, and I found it quite addictive though a bit of a hot mess. It is probably one of LJG's best performances and am glad to see his popularity rise. Again, though I am speaking specifically about Korean ratings and basically just saying that competition and perhaps a bit of anti-China bias was involved because China was being mean to some Korean actors ( kicking them out of dramas and advertising campaigns they had already signed on for ). ML's being a re-make of a Chinese drama ended up being a bit of bad timing as far as when it aired in Korea. Having said all that, I still think most of it was about the buzz around Moonlight and the rise of PBG.

    • No, that show killed itself with poor directing and generally poor acting. I am not talking about Lee Junki or Kang Haneul, but most of the others were different shades of awful.

    • @Sour Grapes, I get what you are saying but well made and well acted dramas don't always do well and dramas with problematic acting and stories are often quite successful. I think timing and competition and whatever fad seems to resonate with the audience comes into play. The original poster was mentioning the difference between the success of the drama internationally versus its local ratings.

  • So with the success of ML, YG in going ahead with drama or even movie production ventures.

    ML actually rated decently in the TV index. May not be as super high SBS would have expected but the rating was decent. The drama experienced being number in its timeslot. And well regardless of the outcome, SBS have to pay for the licensing rights to YG. I am guessing SBS have paid between $300-500K per episode.

  • Directing? It's pretty subjective.But to me it's one of the best direction in kdrama. It's wasn't your typical kdrama direction but definitely one of the most classy and poetic direction.

    Bad direction is Goblin. That was bad direction. From bad sound editing to too much flashbacks to excessive recycled scenes.... that's bad editing and poor quality drama.

    Seeing that it's nominated in the Baeksang made me realised that buying nominations is practiced in Korea too. Well definitely they need that kind of publicity as they still have to sell this drama and earn more licensing revenues to recoup all their costs and max their profit. DOST was more expensive to make than MLSHR and I heard Goblin's production costs is higher than DOST.

• BB certainly earns enough for YG.

  • Yes.. I remember two years ago, when bigbang comeback with their series album, there was YG vs SM. But it was actually Bigbang vs SM (Exo, snsd etc). Bigbang didnt have many adv under their belt or any drama/movie. Heol, they make money just by selling their music. With the boys one by one will go to military, YG needs to stop delaying his disciples comeback.

    Looking forward to this YG project. But please, trying to cast some other good actors. Not only YG actors. SM has many real actors but they mostly give their idols who arent really good in acting to act.
    And then most of SM dramas failed.

    So goodluck!!

• Damn.. YG reaching its tentacles everywhere.. well, if SM and JYPE are doing this then why can’t YG jump this wagon?

• BaramiBunda's make-up team is the best. For example, they change Lim Se-mi's image from a stupid student in Heartstrings into an elegant young lady in TWTWB. They did an amazing works to Jin Ki Ju too, in MLSHR.