Korean streaming platform TVing is making a play for international audiences, including the U.S., with a direct-to-consumer service based on what it sees as the “global K-content craze”.

The initiative, supported by Korean content powerhouses CJ ENM and JTBC, kicks off in Japan and Taiwan in 2022, followed by the U.S. in 2023.

The platform will offer TVing originals and Korean content as well as domestically acquired IP to target local audiences.

So far, TVing has released 25 original and exclusive titles.

The international expansion strategy, outlined at Monday’s TVing Connect 2021 event in Seoul, involves a collaboration with Line and other global majors, TVing said.

Line Plus CEO Eunjung Lee said during the event that the 10-year-old Line had grown into a “life platform” with about 200 million global monthly active users.

“If we combine our global business capabilities with the content production capabilities of TVing, which is growing as a powerful K-content platform, I believe that both companies will be able to create an OTT platform that represents Asia,” he said.

CJ ENM CEO Kang Ho-sung said that the streaming platform was “leading CJ ENM’s digital shift” and was “growing as a key axis of CJ ENM’s strategy to strengthen digital capabilities”.

TVing also presented a domestic expansion plan, including smart TV integration from 2022.

This followed a 206% leap in paid TVing subs in the 12 months since the launch of the platform as an independent entity in October 2020. The company said paying subscribers in their 20s and 30s had increased by 268%, outstripped by a 276% increase among people in their 50s.

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