Chapter 106: Securing Subscribers
Chapter 106: Securing Subscribers
I wasn't greedy about making a fortune with Earth Channel.
‘I own Dream Art Rainbow, so I can distribute Korean films and drama content, and Myeong-woo likes games.’
And since Earth Resource was in the cloud business, we had more than enough hardware resources.
The venture was born more out of a desire to bring people joy than to make money.
As long as I was doing business in Silicon Valley, it was only natural to target the US or global market.
< Netflix Market Cap at $200 Billion, What is Earth Channel’s Fair Value? >
< Earth Channel Subscribers Nearing Half of Netflix’s >
< The Dazzling Growth of Earth Channel >
< Reevaluation of Korean Content, Korean Dramas More Popular in the US >
< Squid Game Becomes a Massive Hit on Earth Channel >
“...”
The growth of Earth Channel, gaining 15 million new subscribers a day, was insane.
‘It’s a structure that’s hard to profit from yet. The investment costs are still far higher, but the valuation is incredible.’
With low-interest rates continuing during the COVID era, it ticked all the boxes that were trending on the US stock market: contactless tech, technology, and growth.
There was a reason for the rapid acquisition of subscribers: five dollars.
From a user’s perspective, even watching a single movie meant it wasn’t a loss, so there was no reason to hesitate.
Although we launched the OTT service at a very low price, when you broke it down, it wasn't exactly a bargain.
Earth Channel’s fee was five dollars. The plan including games was ten dollars.
Our competitor, Netflix, allowed up to four simultaneous connections if you chose their $17.99 plan.
‘For someone watching alone, it’s a reasonable price, less than a third of the cost. But for multiple people, it’s more expensive than Netflix.’
The five-dollar plan didn't allow for simultaneous streaming.
You could watch it on a television, but then you couldn't play it on another device.
The fact that you couldn't stream simultaneously at such a low price was actually contributing to the faster growth in subscriber numbers.
- Ellie: Wall Street predicts that Earth Channel’s user base could surpass Netflix’s within a month.
- Kim Shin: Really?
- Ellie: Yes! But there will definitely be a limit to its growth in the US market.
There wasn't a lot of content that Americans particularly liked.
It was unavoidable. American dramas and movies were too expensive to produce, so we hadn't secured many while preparing for Earth Channel's launch.
- Ellie: But Earth Channel has such a strong advantage in Asia. It’s incredibly popular in Japan, and a lot of Chinese people are watching.
- Kim Shin: That's true.
- Ellie: If Chinese users keep signing up, the market size will become incomparably larger than Netflix’s.
A significant number of internet services that started in the US were inaccessible in China.
Famous services like Google, Netflix, and Instagram were blocked by the Chinese government.
The same went for YouTube, one of Google's companies used by people worldwide.
They also strictly controlled the distribution of games by issuing licenses.
Oh Myeong-woo and Eddie objected to this.
“If we create Earth Channel, people in China will definitely want to watch it.”
“That’s right. We’re working on supporting Chinese, too.”
A language used by over 1.3 billion people.
We were spending a lot of money to advance translation technology and trying to support the Chinese language used all over the world.
But the service could be banned at any time for being a threat to the Chinese government's system.
This was a huge risk factor.
“Shin. We’re not entering the Chinese market.”
“Then?”
“We’re providing a service to the whole world. So China must be included. It doesn’t make sense that Chinese people can’t enjoy games.”
“Exactly!”
Oh Myeong-woo and Eddie were on the same page, and the programmers worked with them to create a few things.
“What’s this?”
“It bypasses the IP. You can access sites blocked by the government.”
A simple program allowed users to bypass private communication networks to watch Earth Channel.
Eddie said confidently.
“This might not be enough. So, for connections from China, we'll assign a separate address to each server. We'll split the addresses across hundreds, thousands of servers to make it difficult to block the site. And even if they do block it, we'll automatically create and connect to a new bypass address.”
“...”
“If that method gets blocked, there are several other tricks we can use.”
Oh Myeong-woo and Eddie were serious.
Huge companies like Microsoft or Google are influenced by government policies, but we don’t have to be.
‘But isn’t our company’s revenue quite large, too?’
Computing, cloud services, and e-commerce.
Not to mention the coin exchange business, which was growing explosively, three to four times every month.
It hadn't even been a year since we started, but even without Earth Channel, we were already at the level of a multinational corporation.
In any case, I decided that providing service in China wasn't a bad idea.
Korean companies that had entered China suffered significant damage due to incidents like the THAAD deployment.
In Earth Channel’s case, we would just be providing Chinese language services, not making large-scale facility investments in China.
‘And Earth Resource doesn’t have any China-related business.’
China could block payments, but our company’s strength was in crypto.
Besides Source Coin, we could register various other coins in our payment system according to their market rates.
“Alright. Let’s do it.”
And so, Chinese users began to sign up, and as word of mouth spread, the growth rate was terrifying.
‘The rise of the Chinese economy is helping Earth Channel.’
The number of Chinese users surpassed five million, and the sign-up speed accelerated sharply.
I could see why Korean companies were so desperate to enter the Chinese market.
“Jong-yeop.”
“Yes, CEO Kim.”
“Look for a building nearby that we can use as our headquarters.”
“Yes, sir.”
Although we did some live broadcasts from Earth Channel, the company's space had become very cramped as the number of employees grew.
The computing and cloud divisions alone filled two floors, and with the addition of the populous e-commerce and Earth Channel teams, the office was bustling with employees.
Currently, more than half of the staff worked from home, which made it manageable, but the K-Vaccine was now being widely administered in the US.
“Are you thinking of purchasing a building?”
“Yeah. Something around 20 or 30 stories would be fine.”
We could use what Earth Resource needed and lease the rest.
‘Just three years ago, the thought of owning my own home seemed so distant. Now I’m buying a building in the US without a second thought.’
Even though I had become a world-class tycoon, my mind kept drifting back to my impoverished days three years ago, or even further back.
Even while eating delicious food prepared by chefs, I would remember the days I thinly sliced a sausage to make it last for days.
‘Is this what getting older feels like?’
* * *
Dream Art Rainbow was in a festive mood.
“They say Earth Channel’s subscribers have surpassed 80 million.”
“Already?”
“We might hit 100 million by tomorrow.”
Vice President Jeong Beom-tae could hardly contain his joy every time he received a report from an employee.
The OTT market.
Supplying content like movies and shows over the internet, rather than through terrestrial or cable channels.
When Kim Shin first started the business, all I could think of was helping him with all my might.
“We’ve received a request for a meeting from WM.”
“What for?”
“They want to supply films they’ve invested in or produced to Earth Channel.”
The success of Earth Channel had completely changed the atmosphere in the broadcast and film industry.
Production companies of films that couldn't be released in Korea due to COVID came rushing to us.
They could recoup their production costs through an OTT contract and, if the film was a hit, earn a handsome profit.
The success of *Top Gun* on Earth Channel was more or less expected.
But the popularity of Korean content, both films and dramas, was remarkably high.
Seeing the potential for global expansion, everyone wanted to sign a contract with Dream Art Rainbow.
‘Does the world change this quickly?’
At broadcasting stations, even the lowest-ranking employees walked around with their chins held high.
The distribution companies that held a tight grip on domestic screens were powerful enough to determine a film’s success.
To make a movie, you had to entertain them first and cater to their every whim.
But now, in the face of Dream Art Rainbow, they were in a completely subordinate position.
Vice President Jeong Beom-tae smiled.
“Director Yang, there were plenty of people in the film and broadcast industry who had it in for us recently, weren't there?”
“...There were.”
Vice President Jeong Beom-tae hadn't forgotten the controversy that had erupted in the film industry.
Many had pushed back when Kim Shin took pity on film industry staff and improved their working conditions.
Thanks to favorable public opinion, we managed to secure talented staff, turning a crisis into an opportunity, but there were still those who saw Dream Art Rainbow as the root of all evil.
The domestic film and broadcast industry saw the launch of Earth Channel as a threat to their livelihood.
If Earth Channel had failed, they would have launched a relentless attack.
[ Earth Channel Becomes a Graveyard for Content ]
[ The Dangers of an OTT Service Ignored by Viewers ]
It was all too easy to sway the media and get articles published.
However, once it opened, Earth Channel was on a level far beyond being checked by mere domestic competition.
The American and European media.
They were assessing its subscriber growth as a threat to Netflix.
Moreover, Earth Channel’s annual revenue was projected to far exceed ten billion dollars, an amount completely unimaginable compared to the scale of the Korean content market.
“We need to increase our investment in Korean film and drama content. We have to do our best to ensure Earth Channel has a rich variety of things to watch, don't we?”
“Yes, Vice President.”
“No matter how hard we try on our own, we can’t achieve something as great as what the CEO has. So let’s all get our heads in the game and work hard.”
Vice President Jeong Beom-tae decided to drastically expand the content investment business.
The goal was to bring the Korean drama, variety, and film industries to heel.
* * *
“So this office is where Earth Channel was created.”
“Yes. I’m Diane, I’m in charge of Earth Channel here.”
“Nice to meet you, Diane.”
Tom Cruise visited Earth Resource.
After exchanging light greetings with the employees, and with Tom Cruise’s permission, I turned on the Earth Channel live broadcast, which had been temporarily suspended.
“Hello, everyone.”
- It’s Tom Cruise.
- He really came.
- Welcome.
- Hello!
I greeted the viewers, with over 100,000 people tuning in almost instantly.
“There are a lot of people. How many are there?”
“100,000. Now it’s 110,000.”
“Wow. Kim Shin, you really are a celebrity.”
After a brief tour of the company with Tom Cruise, we drove to my mansion.
I felt a little embarrassed being escorted by a convoy of security vehicles.
Especially since I knew how many dangerous stunts Tom Cruise performed while filming his movies.
“Your house is close. Do you always drive to work?”
“I usually ride my bike. I like bicycles.”
“I see. I used to ride a bike a lot when I was a student, too.”
“A bicycle? I can’t imagine it. You look so good on a motorcycle.”
After some light conversation, I personally cooked for Tom Cruise at the mansion.
Simple bulgogi, doenjang-jjigae, and marinated galbi.
Dishes I occasionally made since coming to America.
“This is really delicious. It reminds me of the food I had in Seoul.”
- It’s nice to see Tom hyung enjoying the food.
- Kim Shin... is he a good cook, too?
- He’s perfect. Honestly, he doesn’t even need to know how to cook.
- But he’s bad at laundry. LOL.
- That’s not even a flaw.
The meal was also broadcast on Earth Channel.
“To all my fans in Korea, please show a lot of love for *Top Gun*.”
It felt like a simple fan meeting.
After ending the broadcast, Tom Cruise spoke about the reason for his visit.
“I have a movie scheduled for my next shoot.”
“The *Mission: Impossible* series?”
“Yes. I’m thinking of producing parts 7 and 8 simultaneously. I’d like to get investment from Earth Channel and release them here.”
Paramount Pictures had collaborated with Tom Cruise’s production company many times in the past, so it was natural to continue the relationship.
And *Mission: Impossible* was a film series too good to pass up.
“Of course, we will actively invest.”
“Excellent. And are you interested in other films or production companies?”
“Other films?”
“Hollywood is buzzing with interest in Earth Channel’s success.”
Hollywood had taken notice of Earth Channel’s success.