Olleh TV surpassed six million subscribers in March, and last October, a premiere channel was launched to stream unreleased titles from Warner Brothers, Sony Pictures and Walt Disney Company Korea. Similar services were added to other IPTV operators including Btv and U+TV. Through such services, it has been five months since the beginning of a new era where people were able to watch films that weren’t theatrically released through IPTV. Increasingly, more films were released simultaneously at theaters and IPTV, or were available to stream while the film was still showing at theaters. Films that flopped at theaters scurried to IPTV and sought higher scores on new platforms. Then which films made it big or flopped on IPTV? Looking at the pervious performance scores of films at the VOD market can help predict the type of contents that are popular through the medium.

 

Era of Ten Million IPTV Subscribers
IPTV has grown into a market that cannot be ignored with over ten million audiences. The Korean IPTV market has tripled over the past four years, showing the fastest growth in the world. Accordingly, films with trouble finding theaters are utilizing IPTV as their sales outlets. Gone are the days when theatrical releases were regarded as the only premiers. The biggest strength of IPTV is that it is compatible with mobile devices. People are able to watch films on route, including films that were not released at theaters, on their mobile devices. With simultaneous releases, audiences could also enjoy the most recent films at the comfort of their homes.  
 
Weekly Sales of Korea’s First IPTV Premiere Channel Grow 2.5 Times
“85 films (four films a week on average) were released in five months since the launch of the premiere channel,” said a spokesperson from Olleh TV. Sales per film are on a steady rise. Weekly sales grew 2.5 times from sales in the first week. The biggest hit was Gambler starring Mark WALBERG. Action films, thrillers and dramas such as Humming Bird inked high sales figures. Warner Brothers Korea launched the ‘Hot From Hollywood’ service that shows films currently running in U.S. theaters, starting with Horrible Bosses 2 last December. Taking into consideration of the delay it takes for an international film to be released in Korea, this service can be an alternative way to distribute and release films in the future. Not only that, other popular films from across Asia that are hard to come across in Korea including China’s box office number one, Lost in Thailand and Japan’s King of Apology became available on IPTV.

 

Simultaneous releases are also becoming more common. In the event that a film’s performance is slow in the first week, its filmmaker moves its platform to IPTV to tackle theaters and IPTV at the same time. The time it takes for a theatrical release to IPTV can determine whether or not the film makes a hit. If a film is designated to be screened at theaters and on IPTV at the same time, the VOD service of the film can be priced higher. Due to this loophole, some films called their release simultaneous with less than five theaters which were smaller than one hundred viewers at each screen. This loophole forced three IPTV operators to toughen standards on simultaneous releases last October.

 

General Positive Responses to Simultaneous Releases
When looking at the big picture of the VOD sector, people prefer films that were simultaneously released at theaters and on IPTV in comparison to films that were released on IPTV only. The IPTV Video Top Ten Standings that have been disclosed by the Korean Film Council since February 2013 showed that most of high rankers hit IPTV services after theaters. Same with the top ten box office scores in the second week of March, the films were screened at theaters first. Gangnam Blues directed by YOO Ha played 110,000 times upon its release on IPTV, placing first in the standings. The Con Artists and My Love, Don‘t Cross That River were also popular with IPTV users. Films that performed well at theaters automatically impacted the number of views on IPTV. However, some films perform better and generated profits through IPTV like Obsessed and For the Emperor which ranked first and second in the adult film category in 2014. These films made headlines due to their R ratings, revealing scenes and sexual content. An interesting characteristic of IPTV is that people are able to watch films by themselves at home. Therefore, IPTV can be another distribution channel for R-rated films.  But the purpose of IPTV is not limited to simply sales. 

 

“IPTV gives viewers opportunities to legally watch films that were screened at domestic theaters and develop new sales channels for excellent Korean films,” said those in the IPTV industry. As IPTV began from this recognition, it should be seen as a service to expand the VOD market and cultural diversity.  

 

The VOD sales chart released by Olleh in December ranked the Disney animation Frozen in first place. Second, third, fourth and fifth places were snatched by Korean films -- The Attorney, The Pirates, Miss Granny and The Fatal Encounter respectively. Late last year, Korean hit films usually enjoy strong sales in the IPTV market like Roaring Currents that topped the IPTV sale chart at number one for three weeks in a row on its release from late last year to the beginning of the New Year. As IPTV has many family audiences and are easily accessible to kids, animations recorded good small-screen performances as well.   

 

Other than Disney animations such as Frozen and Big Hero 6, Japanese animation series Detective Conan also did well on the charts. Sales at IPTV hinges on box office scores in general. Films that had buzz or made headlines also have a competitive advantage over those which did not. Key words such as R-rated, family films and kids’ films attract more viewers in the IPTV market. Now is the time to approach the IPTV industry as a channel to legally show variety in films and act as another market where diversity is guaranteed.