The success of NiziU
1st place in line music after debut single pre-release
Girl Group 'NiziU' Strategic Collaboration 'Jackpot'
JYP and Sony Music "through each strength world"
韓 Webtoon, Global Distributor of Animation in Japan
"The only stumbling block is the uneasy Korean-Chinese political situation"
 |
| The success of NiziU - 1st place in line music after debut single pre-release |
On 22 June, a large billboard by JYP girl group NiziU appeared in the "Shibuya 109" tower in the center of Tokyo's 渋, a street of young people. On the front panel, the commercial video for NiziU's first album, "Sweet bomb," which is released on the 2th of next month, was repeated constantly. The pop-up store selling NiziU-related merchandise began pre-selling tickets 9 days ago, and tens of thousands of fans gathered early.
NiziU also stars in the NHK Red and White Competition, which airs on December 31. NiziU, who has not yet made his official debut, appeared on the program, which stars only the most popular and talked-about singers of the year.
On the other hand, AKB, a native Japanese girl group that has appeared in the Red and White Series for 12 consecutive years, was removed from this year's list and accepted as a case in the big part of Japan's music industry. Among music fans, the phrase "the times have changed now."
NiziU was born through the Nige Project, a global audition jointly conducted by Korean planner JYP Entertainment and Japanese record company Sony Music. All nine members are Japanese (one is dual-national) and started the project with the Japanese market in mind.
Since July last year, more than 10,000 applicants have participated in global auditions in eight Cities in Japan, Hawaii, and Los Angeles, USA. Their audition process was revealed on YouTube, Hulu, an online video platform (OTT), and terrestrial NihonTV.
Whenever a new session was released, the auditionee's name would be on Yahoo Japan's live search, while producer Park Jin-young's remarks emphasizing "truth, sincerity, and humility" were shared as "myung-nosed house."
NiziU's free debut album "Make you happy", released on June 30, topped the charts in Japan, including the Oricon charts, and also topped the charts in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia.
Hwang Sun-hye, Director of the Korea Content Promotion Agency (Konjinwon) Japan Center, said, "There were many strength factors, including the format of the audition program that has already been proven in Korea, JYP's training and production capabilities, the local power of Sony Music in Japan, and the character of Park Jin-young. It is through the world that korea and Japan have strategically collaborated on what they are good at."
NiziU's form of success is also new in the entertainment industry. In the 2000s, when singer Boa succeeded in localization in Japan through the Japanese Aevex Music, Korean singers such as Kara, Girls' Generation, and The Eastern New Year were exported to Japan around 2010 to show off the K-pop genre.
Next, idol groups with foreign members, such as Twis and Aizuwon, were a trend until recently. By the way, NiziU is a member of all Japanese people and calls K-pop in Japan through training in Korea. A new level of entertainment content has never been seen in the world.
NiziU's appearance has strained the Japanese J-pop market and the entertainment industry. Nikkei Entertainment recently assessed that "NiziU's performance in the Japanese market, how he will work globally while based in Japan, and may show the path to globalization that Japan's idol industry should be aiming for in the future."
In the field of content, the case for strategic cooperation between Korea and Korea is actively conducted not only in K-pop, but also in drama, webtoon, animation, and character. On December 12, about 500 industry officials from Korea and Japan participated in the "Korea-Japan Content Business Online Forum". About 80% of the attendees were on the Japanese side.
黒須, senior producer of Japan Produce, an online video platform crunchroll that appeared as a speaker of the forum彦, introduced examples of collaboration with Webtoon in Korea. Crunch Roll recently animated Naver Webtoon's popular series "Tower of God," "Gad of High School," and "Noblesse," and hit the big hit in Korea, the United States, and Europe. Korean webtoons and Japanese animation productions have strategically worked hand in hand.
The 30-minute, 13-episode "Tower of God" had 16 million views from April to June, and was watched by about a third of the world's 3 million paid members. "Gad of High School" has over 24 million views. "By region, we had a lot of viewers in order of the U.S., Brazil, Canada, and France, and the response from our fans was very hot," Kuros said, explaining that the goal was to "create a second, third example of Korean-American collaboration to increase market share."
In the OTT industry, such as Netflix, there has already been a war over who has got more Content in Korea. With big hits such as "Love Undying" and "Itaewon Klass," every OTT is raising the heat on securing Korean drama.
Japan's OTT operator Younext currently has about 1,000 Korean dramas. About two years ago, as a result of actively buying Korean content after the high marketability of Korean dramas, Unitex ranked third in Japan after global OTT such as Netflix and Amazon.
堤 Tsutsumi Denshin, CEO of Eunext, said, "We see a high loyalty when we watch an average of 20 to 25 hours per month, but the main viewers of Korean content are big-time viewers who watch more than 40 hours," and that "we are expanding Korean entertainment content not only with drama, but also with entertainment and live concerts."
As strategic collaboration between South Korea and the two countries continues to expand, the only obstacle is the political situation between the two countries. NiziU's audition program was actually postponed once in October last year due to deteriorating relations between South Korea and Japan, which was triggered by Japan's export regulations. Hwang, director of the Center, said, "Exchanges and cooperation will become more active once the U.S.-South Korea relationship stabilizes," and stressed that "the challenge is to overcome anaerobic and anti-Japanese sentiment as soon as day."
Comments
Post a Comment