How did ‘Newz’ win the minds of the generation Z?
‘Newz’ has been active as the first generation of tech and trend creator on the global short-form mobile video platform TikTok since October 2019. In January 2021, the short-form education MCN ‘Majors Network’ (hereinafter referred to as Majors) was launched, nurturing about 250 experts as creators and providing high-quality content to viewers.
‘Newz’ CEO Ga-hyun Kim attended the Rookie League showcase at ‘Come Up 2021’ held at Dongdaemun Plaza DDP in Seoul for three days from the 17th to the 19th and explained the future value of Newz. Previously, Newz broke through the competition of 18.4 to 1 and was selected for the ‘Come Up 2021’ Rookie League based on short-form content.
Ga-yeon Kim introduced her company as “the next-generation educational MCN newz for Generation Z, who will be leaders in the next 10 years.” She revealed that it all started from questioning the absence of informative content in the short-form content market that is currently popular with the MZ generation.
In fact, the informative and educational short-form content created by ‘Newz’ recorded more than 1.5 million views, ranking in the top 5 in weekly views. As a result, ‘Newz’ even got the title of ‘Newz is better than News.’
In response, ‘News’ launched ‘Major’s Network’, which trains experts in each field, such as brain scientist Dong-seon Jang and future scientist Ji-hoon Jung, into professional short-form creators. ‘Major’s Network’ combines production, management, and academy to nurture creators from A to Z.
‘Major’s Network’ achieved 490 million views and gained 4.5 million followers by educating 250 knowledge-based content creators in 11 months after the initial launch. In particular, it expects sales of 500 million won within one year of launch, showing a sales growth rate of more than 900% compared to last year. However, the CEO does not intend to stop here, ‘Newz’ plans to expand the platform and advance to the metaverse knowledge MCN in 2023.
Ga-hyun Kim, CEO of ‘News’, wrapped up the presentation by adding, “‘Newz’ bridges the information gap in line with the culture of future generations so that they can resonate better and are not alienated from information. In order to strengthen this role, I dream that the Newz will be transformed into a representative new media, an arena for information that keeps pace with future generations, wherever they may go.”
During the QnA session after the presentation, Future Play CEO Ryu Joong-hee asked, “If you look at the revenue model, it is a one-off and does not seem to have established a solid platform. What kind of platform can you create out of it and build up a revenue model when it evolves?”
In response, CEO Ga-hyun Kim said, “Our production team has the capacity to produce Knolwledge Creator Insights tailored to the needs of Generation Z. We are nurturing creators who boast high views and followers. Also, we are trying to monetize the academy targeting those who want to become creators in the short form business. We are also trying to monetize our own original content produced based on the creator’s IP.”
She continued, “Actually, among the limitations of MCN, sales structure is one of the issues that stand out. The existing MCN is regarded as a deficit model, and we created a company to solve this problem. Since the company’s production team is involved in the production, operation, and planning, it has a different profit model from other MCNs. The contract period is also much longer because the company nurtures creators like trainees. Since the company plans and nurtures them, I think it will solve the limitations of other MCN deficit models.”
Jung-ah Shin, CEO of Kakao Ventures, said, “Hooks are important for short-form content. We need something that catches our eye in a short amount of time. I wonder if the company can continue to provide differentiated content based on the agency model.”
CEO Ga-hyun Kim said, “Many people wonder what kind of information or video could be available in 15 seconds or 1 minute. Please be reminded that one plain news article is about 30 seconds to 1 minute long and enough information is put in it. By creating an open chat room for followers, we are creating a channel with them by receiving and answering questions. What I would like to explain is that YouTube also had a lot of entertainment videos in the early days, but as the platform grew, knowledge creators made debuts and they are making new types of videos. The short form business is getting bigger right now, and we got into the market quickly,” she emphasized.
You must be logged in to post a comment.