Playlist Studio (Korean: 플레이리스트 스튜디오; RR: Peulleiriseuteu Seutyudio), better known as Playlist, is a South Korean web drama production company known for producing independent video content and can expand its business to various areas such as performances, webtoons, music sources, and games by using intellectual property rights (IP). It is also known for its several hit web dramas including Love Playlist, Seventeen, A-Teen, and Weak Hero Class 1. The production mainly focuses on the 10s and 20s aged audience and a time limit running time within 10 minutes (or a maximum of 20 minutes).
As of June 2021, Sports Seoul reported that the Playlist Original has over 2.6 million subscribers and has the number of subscribers to all Playlist channels (Playlist Indonesia, Playlist Japan and Playlist Vietnam) exceeded 14.6 million.[4]
Logo
The second Playlist Studio's logo was introduced in August 2020 to lead a fun and playful pop culture by creating content that empathizes and move people and the world.[5]
History
First logo, used from 2018 to 2019
In January 2017, Playlist was established for Snow app promotion by a joint investment from Snow Corp. and Line Webtoon, which are subsidiaries of Naver Corporation and is led by CEO Park Tae-won who has worked for Google Korea and Google Japan.[6][7][8] In May of the same year, it decided to separate and build a new company after seeing their first web drama Love Playlist gained huge popularity after word of mouth among college students after it first aired in March 2017.[6][9] The drama went on for four seasons and ended with total views for the four seasons exceeded 630 million views.[10][1]
Playlist Global (stylized as PlayList Global) is a global service platform promoting through Facebook, Naver TV and YouTube providing subtitle services in 10 countries, including English, Japanese, French, Chinese, and Indonesian.[11] The production company introduces it as a 'mobile broadcasting station' in the official Facebook account, saying, "I believe that TV will move to mobile, just as PC has moved to mobile."[12]
In December 2018, Playlist positioning itself as a music video content producer as it established a music channel, Mu:Ply (stylized in all caps).[1]
In September 2019, Playlist acquired a 3.63% (172 shares) stake in Sublime Artist Agency for 301 million won on the 20th. The acquisition amount is equivalent to 41.44% of the company's equity capital as of the end of 2018.[13]
In October 2019, Playlist had attracted an investment of 5.3 billion won from a Silicon Valley–based venture capital (VC), Altos Ventures.[14]
In February 2020, former Studio Dragon chief producer (CP) Yoon Hyun-gi joined Playlist Studio as head PD for its drama division.[2]
In May 2020, Playlist signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with LG U+, a South Korean telecommunication company to jointly produce and distribute short-form 5G contents such as web dramas for VR, AR music videos, and 3D PPL by combining LG U+ VR and AR technology with the contents produced by Playlist.[15]
In August 2020, Playlist underwent its first rebrand and renewed its CI and BI in three years, introducing a new logo, the brand slogan 'Play your story' and brand core values 'Empathy', 'Pleasure', 'Leading' and 'Growth' and business areas such as drama, music, commerce, such as Playlist original, Teenply, Mu:Ply, Playlist developed playlist store and Playlist style to reflect the brand system.[16]
Content creators
Playlist started with a small number of 2 writers, 2-3 directors, and a designer.[3] In 2019, Playlist has about 90 young creators with more than half of the total is people in their 20s, and 70% of them are content creators such as writers, directors, producers, and designers. According to CEO Park, "Writers are discovered through contests. Neither writers nor directors are selected based on their past experiences because people in their twenties themselves are not yet inexperienced." He also emphasized that the content development project are done through the collective intelligence of the majority that decision-making and judgment of a few.[8]
Growth
User statistics
In 2018, Playlist's subscribers surpassed 3.19 million on Facebook and 950,000 on YouTube. The release of Love Playlist 1 & 2, it garnered over 300 million views and 70% of the main traffic is female from both the domestic and international channel.[17] As the show progresses, it surpassed 1 million views each time the episode was uploaded on YouTube.[18]
By April 2019, Playlist had over 1.3 billion global views and 7.7 million subscribers worldwide. It sold 45,000 items such as beauty products, stationery and miscellaneous goods in five weeks and 10,000 exports in two weeks.[19][7] With the release of A-Teen 2 first on Naver TV before other platforms such as YouTube, the platform is also effective in securing platform users. Before the pre-release of the drama, Playlist videos' average number of views was around 20,000 to 30,000 on the platform. Later, the views exceeded 2 million when it was released.[20]
By December 2019, Playlist recorded 2 billion cumulative views domestically and abroad, such as Japan, Taiwan, and Vietnam. The average number of views per episode is about 2-5 million.[1]
In June 2021, XX, Ending Again, In Seoul 2, Pop out boy!, Twenty-Twenty, Live On, My Fuxxxxx Romance, and Growing Season received the highest proportion of viewers aged between 18 and 24. The proportion of viewers aged 18–24 for the eight works averaged about 43%. However, XX, My Fuxxxxx Romance, and Growing Season have the second-highest proportion of viewers aged 25–34 (21%, 27%, and 16%, respectively), covering a wide audience from teens to 30s. In addition, My fuxxxxx Romance broke the prejudice that male viewers accounted for 56% of the total, and that dramas were exclusively for female viewers.[4]
According to data collected in June 2021, Playlist dramas are watched through smartphones (80%), PCs (11%), tablets (6.6%), TVs (1.01%), and game consoles (0.1%).[4] Playlist has achieved 3.1 billion global views and 14 million subscribers worldwide in four years since its launch.[21]
Contents release through V Live
In 2019, Naver's video platform V Live opened its membership platform in April for A-Teen 2. It is the first drama to open a channel other than artists such as idol singers and actors. The drama video was released one week ahead of other platforms with no ads, 3 special live videos of A-Teen 2, text and photo content, and members-only bulletin boards are also provided.[20] Other drama release through V Live are Love Playlist 4,[22]Just One Bite 2,[22] and In Seoul 1 and 2.[23]
Reception
Due to the domestic and international success of Yellow (2017), the drama held a 2-hour fan meeting on November 4, 2017, at the White Wave Art Center in Seoul with a performance by Car, the Garden and MeloMance.[24]A-Teen's (2018-2019) popularity has resulted in the webtoons and script books being created. The lipstick collaboration with A-Teen became popular, selling 60,000 in Korea and Japan. In addition, the character Do Ha-na led to an explosive response from viewers. Through CEO Park words: During the character planning and development, Do Ha-na is focused on a character that does what teenagers want to do. Through interviews with teenagers, I studied how they felt in what situations and how they felt and reflected that into the main character's personality.[7][8][25] The actor who played the character Shin Ye-eun, swept advertisements for 10 brands, and is emerging as a new 'Advertising Queen'. In addition, Kim Dong-hee (played as Ha Min) was cast in JTBC's high-rated drama SKY Castle and is continuing his acting career.[18]
Plyverse
Plyverse (Korean: 플리버스) is a portmanteau of the words Playlist and Universe a non-narrative name given to the fictional setting of the television series produced by Playlist Studio. The term is used to link characters seen across secondary contents, such as collaborations and spin-offs, by organically connecting and integrating each work based on a common worldview.[26]
A fake reality show of MuzieKwang Company, an entertainment company founded by producer Muzie and their first artist Lee Gi-kwang to become the leading player in global Kpop.
#OUTNOW
Talk and live music
October 29, 2021
TBA
A comeback show where musicians, actors, and directors appear as hosts to promote their content.
^Originally planned for a February 2021 broadcast, it has since been postponed due to the controversy involving its lead actress Park Hye-su.[31]
^The album includes around 10 tracks including the main tracks, instrumentals, and score.[36]
^The album includes around 9 tracks including the main tracks, instrumentals, and score.[38]
^The album includes around 8 tracks including the main tracks, instrumentals, and score.[39]
^The album includes around 10 tracks including the main tracks, instrumentals, and score.[40]
References
^ abcdKim, Ji-min (February 10, 2020). [업종 스페셜-웹드라마 제작사] ②‘최초’라는 수식어를 가장 많이 보유한 웹드라마 제작사 ‘플레이리스트’ [[Industry Special-Web Drama Production Company] ② ‘Playlist’, the web drama production company that has the most modifier ‘first’]. Job&Joy (in Korean). Retrieved August 12, 2021.
^ abHan, Seon-ha (February 23, 2020). 플레이리스트 박태원 대표 "1020서 세대 확장..사회적 메시지 고민"(인터뷰①)[스타메이커] [Playlist CEO Park Tae-won "Generation expansion in 1020.. Social message concerns" (Interview ①)[Starmaker]]. Star News. Retrieved August 12, 2021.
^ abKim, Dong-hyun (October 5, 2018). 카카오·네이버 '현실공감' 콘텐츠, 2030세대 사로잡아 [Kakao and Naver's 'Reality Empathy' content captivates the 2030 generation]. Newstomato (in Korean). Retrieved August 3, 2021.
^ abcJung, Doo-ri (June 11, 2019). [아주초대석] 박태원 플레이리스트 대표, '구글 출신 드라마광'이 웹드라마 신화 이끈다 [[Very Invited Seat] Playlist CEO Park Tae-won, 'drama geek from Google' leads the web drama myth]. Aju Economy (in Korean). Retrieved August 3, 2021.
^ abcKim, Yang-soo (May 20, 2019). [엔터현장을 가다⑥]플레이리스트, 웹드계 천만영화 '에이틴' 만든 신흥강자 [[Going to the entertainment scene⑥] Playlist, a new strongman who made the 10 million web-based movie 'A-Teen']. JoyNews24 (in Korean). Retrieved August 11, 2021.
^Jin, Hyun-jin (April 13, 2017). 웹 콘텐츠 강화하는 네이버 … 자회사 제작 웹드라마 인기 [Naver to strengthen web content… Subsidiary-produced web drama popularity]. Digital Times (in Korean). Retrieved August 3, 2021.
^Kim, Hyang-mi (August 1, 2017). ‘연·플·리’ 신드롬 ['Yeon-Fly-Lee' Syndrome]. Kyunghyang Shinmun (in Korean). Retrieved August 3, 2021.
^Lee, Bo-mi (September 26, 2019). 네이버 플레이리스트, 연예기획사 출자해 신인 육성한다 [Naver Playlist invests in entertainment agencies to foster new talent]. Aju Economy (in Korean). Retrieved August 3, 2021.
^Jeong, Myung-seop (October 25, 2019). 플레이리스트, 53억 투자 유치... “킬러 콘텐츠 제작 박차” [Playlist attracts investment of 5.3 billion won... “Spurring the production of killer content”]. Aju Economy (in Korean). Retrieved August 11, 2021.
^Manual (May 28, 2020). 플레이리스트, LG유플러스와 5G 숏폼 콘텐츠 공동 제작 나선다! [Playlist and LG U+ to produce 5G short-form content jointly!]. Playlist. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
^Kim, Hyun-jin (August 18, 2020). '에이틴' 제작사 대표 "신예은의 똑단발, '신의 한수' 였다"(인터뷰) ['Yeonfly' and 'A-Teen' production playlist, brand renewal presents a new vision]. Seoul Economic Daily (in Korean). Retrieved August 12, 2021.
^Kim, Jae-hee (February 6, 2018). 밀레니얼이 풀어낸 ‘청춘로맨스’ ['Youth Romance' released by millennials]. Venture Square (in Korean). Retrieved August 11, 2021.
^ abLee, Min-ji (January 2, 2019). [요즘 애들, 뭐 볼까?①] ‘웹 드라마&예능’, 1020세대 제대로 저격하다 [[Kids these days, what should they watch? ①] 'Web Drama & Entertainment', properly sniping the 1020th generation]. Sisa Week (in Korean). Retrieved August 11, 2021.
^ abPark, Hye-rin (April 24, 2019). 네이버, 웹드라마 제작 손자회사 ‘플레이리스트’에 투자해 일석삼조 [Naver invests in 'Playlist', a web-drama production grandson]. Business Post (in Korean). Retrieved August 3, 2021.
^Kim, Seong-hyeon (July 22, 2021). 플레이리스트, 연플리·에이틴 세계관 통합…'아시아 디즈니' 꿈꿔 [Playlist, Yeonfly and A-Teen’s worldviews are integrated… Dreaming of 'Asian Disney']. ZDNet Korea (in Korean). Retrieved August 20, 2021.
^ abYoo, Ji-hee (February 19, 2019). 브이라이브, 취향저격 웹드 편성…'에이틴2'부터 '연플리4'까지 [VLIVE, organized a taste-sniping webad… From 'A-Teen 2' to 'Yeonplay 4']. JoyNews24 (in Korean). Retrieved August 11, 2021.
^Kim, Na-hee (August 22, 2019). 민도희X려운X진예주, 오늘(22일) V라이브 '인서울 가이드' 출격 [공식] [Min Do-hee X Ryeowon X Jin Ye-ju, today (22nd) V Live 'In Seoul Guide' scramble [Official]]. Osen (in Korean). Retrieved August 3, 2021.
^Lee, So-dam (April 13, 2017). [옐로우 팬미팅①] "웹드가 팬미팅을?"..'옐로우', 아이돌 인기 부럽지 않아요 [[Yellow Fan Meeting ①] "Is Webd holding a fan meeting?"..'Yellow', the popularity of idols]. Digital Times (in Korean). Retrieved August 9, 2021.
^Kim, Yang-soo (May 20, 2018). '에이틴' 제작사 대표 "신예은의 똑단발, '신의 한수' 였다"(인터뷰) ['A-Teen' production company representative "Shin Ye-eun's straight hair, it was 'God's hand'" (interview)]. JoyNews24 (in Korean). Retrieved August 12, 2021.
^Lee Kyung-ho (September 3, 2020). "박혜수·NCT 재현·김새론·배현성, KBS '디어엠' 출연 확정" [Park Hye-soo, NCT Jae-hyun, Kim Sae-ron, Bae Hyun-seong, confirmed to appear on KBS 'Dear M']. Naver (in Korean). MT Star News. Archived from the original on July 27, 2021. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
^Ji, Min-kyung (November 8, 2024). [단독] 플레이리스트, 첫 BL드라마 '비밀사이' 제작..김준서→차선형 캐스팅 [[Exclusive] Playlist to produce first BL drama 'Secret Relationship'..Casting Kim Jun-seo→Cha Sun-hyung] (in Korean). Osen. Retrieved November 8, 2024 – via Naver.
^Park, Young-bae (May 12, 2021). 니어리스트 벗 로스트, '여심 저격수' 로운과 함께한 광고 캠페인 공개 [Near List But Lost, Advertisement Campaign with 'Woman's Heart Sniper' Rowoon]. Today Korea. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
