[NON-skz] Business Post: JYP Entertainment's building own platform, find an independent route in SM Kakao Hive's triangular relationship

 JYP Entertainment is pushing to build its own platform. It is interpreted as a movement to find a way to live in a situation where there are concerns about the decrease in influence of the fan platform bubble in which JYP Entertainment participated due to cooperation in platform business between Kakao and Hive. 

▲ Until recently, JYP Entertainment had been recruiting to build its own platform.

According to JYP Entertainment on the 30th, they recently hired developers and designers in relation to the platform business. As of the 26th, we were recruiting applicants for full-time recruitment as of the 26th, including software engineers (backend), software engineers (frontend), product managers, and product designers. JYP Entertainment also offered 1 million won in compensation for hiring. The newly recruited personnel will work under JYP Entertainment's platform group. The platform group is a small elite organization directly under the chief technology officer (CTO) of JYP Entertainment, Jeong Min-jong. CTO Jeong Min-jong graduated from Seoul Science High School and majored in computer science at KAIST. He also studied for a master's degree in computer science at Stanford University in the United States, but dropped out. He is in charge of software development, planning, and product manager at JYP Entertainment.


JYP Entertainment said of the platform group, "We aim to provide the ultimate customer experience to fans around the world by combining the company's unique competitiveness with digital technology." It provides an opportunity to consume content consistently and comfortably.” JYP Entertainment said, "We are creating a new added value and differentiated fandom experience based on our IP based on our own entertainment platform." "he added. Regarding this recruitment, some in the industry see it as JYP Entertainment seeking to build its own fan platform. JYP Entertainment has been carrying out fan platform business in cooperation with SM Entertainment. JYP Entertainment is the second-largest shareholder of Dear You, a subsidiary of SM Entertainment that runs the fan platform bubble.


JYP Entertainment invested in Dear You in June 2021, becoming the second largest shareholder and entering its artists into the bubble. Previously, JYP Entertainment had a chance to join Hive's Weverse, but it showed a move to strengthen ties with SM Entertainment. Hive decided to take over the streaming service VLIVE from Naver in 2021. It was an opportunity for JYP Entertainment to move an artist who was active on VLIVE to Weverse, but at the time, JYP Entertainment gave up on this and chose SM Entertainment. However, since Kakao took over SM Entertainment, a subtle atmosphere began to flow between JYP Entertainment and SM Entertainment.

▲ As of the 26th, JYP Entertainment's job postings were in progress.

Kakao promised to cooperate in the platform business as a condition of obtaining a concession of the management rights of SM Entertainment from Hive. The platform business is the field that Bang Si- hyeok, chairman of the board of directors of Hive, considers most important.

Hive will open an official community for SM Entertainment artists on Weverse in September according to an agreement with Kakao. However, no discussions are underway regarding the plan for JYP Entertainment artists active in the bubble to enter Weverse. It is interpreted that JYP Entertainment gave up on entering Weverse on its own, which can be seen as a decision that JYP Entertainment will not be involved in the cooperation structure between SM Entertainment and Hive in the future and will walk independently. The analysis that the influence of JYP Entertainment's bubble is highly likely to decrease in the future is also cited as a reason for JYP Entertainment's move to build its own platform. Hive introduced 'Weverse DM', a private chat service, to Weverse in April. It was interpreted as an intention to improve the deficit by launching a paid service on Weverse, which was operated for free, which could also damage the bubble. Sending and receiving messages between artists and fans is a service that only existed in the bubble. If the service is introduced to Weverse, which is larger than the bubble, we cannot rule out the possibility that SM Entertainment artist fans will switch to Weverse.


If the size of the bubble shrinks, it is highly likely that JYP Entertainment, the second-largest shareholder of Dear You, will lead to a decrease in platform-related sales. In this situation, the fact that JYP Entertainment's elite organization directly under the CTO and hiring to build its own platform can be seen as JYP Entertainment's move to prepare its own fan platform, which is different from the bubble. JYP Entertainment is also free from agreements on fan platform business cooperation between Kakao, SM Entertainment and Hive. An official from the entertainment industry said, “As the scale of Weverse is getting bigger with the entry of SM Entertainment artists, it is possible that JYP Entertainment felt a sense of crisis.” We can recruit,” he said. JYP Entertainment did not respond to inquiries about the job posting and immediately issued a job posting. Reporter Lim Min-gyu

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