- CJ ENM launched its sixth U.S. FAST channel, K-Dance, exclusively on LG
- It’s betting dance works across borders and languages and suits lean-back FAST viewing
- The company aims for international brand recognition as a destination for K-entertainment
- It uses IP from across the CJ ENM business to program, refresh channels
- U.S. interest in K-content is expanding to new genres, helped by AI localization
- In 2027, CJ ENM wants to turn reach into ad revenue
Korean entertainment company CJ ENM just launched its latest FAST channel, K-Dance, exclusively on LG Channels in North America. The new channel furthers its larger mission to bring a broad range of K-content to international audiences and build fandoms for its IP globally, including in the U.S. via free ad-supported streaming platforms.
In the company’s first interview as it ramps up FAST efforts in the U.S. and beyond, Eun-hye Park, Head of FAST/AVOD Business at CJ ENM, shared the scoop with StreamTV Insiders on its FAST traction and the new channel, the strategy to become a recognized destination for K-content, and how it’s working to boost channel performance and ad-supported monetization. (Note, this interview was conducted by written Q&A with questions and responses translated between English and Korean).
Part of the CJ Group, the CJ ENM division is a force in Korea, where it has hands and IP in many aspects of entertainment. It operates Korean TV studios and cable channels like K-music network Mnet (alongside Mnet+, a digital K-Pop fan engagement platform that had 20 million MAUs as of October 2025), is known for major films like Academy Award-winning Parasite, owns music labels and hosts massive Korean-focused live events like the MAMA Awards and KCON.
It’s looking to leverage that IP in AVOD and FAST to reach new audiences with K-content, build brand recognition and fandoms, and grow its advertising business.
According to Park, this approach has meant shifting its historical international distribution focus from straight content licensing to an emphasis on making Korean entertainment accessible to more people, including through free streaming.
It already counts distribution across major U.S. FAST and AVOD platforms.
Most of 2026 was focused on expanding FAST distribution, but now attention is turning to engaging audiences, improving channel performance, strengthening monetization, and expanding its presence and visibility across its existing U.S. FAST distribution partners.
Eventually, it wants the CJ ENM FAST brands to be recognized in their own right.
“Our ambition is to offer more than a place to watch programming,” Park said. “We want these channels to become destinations where fans around the world can share in the latest Korean entertainment and major live events.”
K-Dance offers new side of K-entertainment
The 24/7 K-Dance channel features more than 200 hours of content dedicated to Korean choreography and dance-themed entertainment.
K-pop music already has global recognition but Park said the new channel aims to introduce North American viewers to another side of Korean entertainment i.e.: dance and performance culture.
Music IP will play into the FAST channel on LG, but K-Dance programming focuses on high-energy dance and competition, spanning competitive street dance, reality entertainment like dance-focused romance reality series Somebody, and iconic K-Pop stages, with plans to refresh the main lineup whenever new dance-focused IP or new seasons of series are released.
That includes its hit Korean dance survival reality show Street Woman Fighter – marking an international expansion of the franchise.
“The Street Woman Fighter franchise has taken dance beyond performance and turned it into compelling entertainment,” Park told us. “It combines exceptional dancers and choreography with competition, collaboration, and the distinctive personalities and stories of each crew.”
The franchise, which pits Korean street dance crews against each other in performance battles, has seen success in its domestic market – leading to spin-offs, including Street Man Fighter and World of Street Woman Fighter.
Tapping into CJ ENM’s multiple entertainment assets for K-Dance
The new K-Dance channel will tap into CJ ENM’s other entertainment assets to blend digital and traditional broadcast content.
Alongside full-length shows, the company also plans to regularly add performance clips and digital content from Mnet’s M2 channel, including STUDIO CHOOM, as well as from the official YouTube channels associated with the Street Woman Fighter franchise.
It will also feature K-Pop idol fancams and standout performances from Mnet’s MAMA awards.
“By bringing together broadcast series and fresh digital content, we aim to keep the channel engaging and give viewers something new to enjoy whenever they tune in,” Park said.
On that front CJ ENM stands to benefit in FAST thanks to its broad entertainment assets, as it has the ability to program a 24/7 channel with enough hours of distinct content and to regularly refresh the programming – factors which are needed for FAST channels to succeed but not always a given or easy to achieve for every content owner.
Traction on FAST
K-Dance brings CJ ENM to six FAST channels in North America, spanning a variety of genres including K-Stories, K-Pop, K-Reality, K-Food & Travel, and K-Novelas (Spanish dubbed channel).
It’s secured distribution for select channels across major FAST platforms in the U.S., including The Roku Channel, Google TV, Samsung TV Plus and more recently, Amazon’s Prime Video, which added K-Stories and K-Pop in August.
It also has AVOD content (featuring AI-assisted English subtitles) deals in North America with Samsung TV Plus, The Roku Channel, Fox’s Tubi and Prime Video.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Korean electronics giant Samsung has leaned in most heavily, carrying AVOD content as well as five of the CJ ENMFAST channels (all other than K-Dance) across 17 countries, including the U.S.
Like K-Dance, other CJ ENM FAST channels try different formats such as its K-Pop channel, which features 60+ hours of clip-based Korean audio from music videos and live stages.
The K-Pop channel has been a U.S. standout, consistently achieving over 200% year-over-year growth in viewing time.
It’s also one example of success in tying in other entertainment assets on FAST with its live broadcast of the MAMA Awards on Samsung TV Plus in 2024.
Per Park, during the event, viewing time on the K-Pop channel reached more than 3x its usual average. More importantly, that increased viewing time continued after the event window, contributing to sustained channel growth.
“This experience has shown us that compelling live events can not only attract new viewers but also help build a stronger audience base for existing FAST channels.”
Down the line the company also wants to expand FAST partnerships around live K-pop content, including concerts and awards shows, which are appealing due to the genre’s strong global fandom and relatively low language barriers.
Room to grow K-content in the U.S.
The K-Dance channel is exclusive to LG Channels for now, which can help the platform differentiate and attract new viewers.
However, exclusivity isn’t necessarily a priority from CJ ENM’s perspective, as Park noted Korean entertainment “still has significant room to reach new audiences in the US.” It’s more focused on how widely content is discovered and watched – and K-Dance could reach other platforms and audiences over time.
Supporting the notion of room to grow, Ampere Analysis recently compared the number of titles in certain markets with their overall popularity, identifying South Korea as a key content market where title exports haven’t kept pace with demand.
Ampere found that around 45% of the market’s on-demand titles are available only on domestic South Korean VoD services and pegged content from South Korea as one of the “promising opportunities for international licensing and distribution, as global demand remains strong while international availability is comparatively limited.”
The appeal for K-content can also be seen on paid streamers, such as SVOD giant Netflix, which, as Omdia Head of Media & Entertainment Maria Rua Aguete noted, has disclosed that 80% of its subscribers worldwide have watched Korean content. The firm’s research also found that Korean content generated 12.1 billion viewing hours on Netflix in just one year.
CJ ENM wants to capitalize on that global appeal and to make K-content easily and widely accessible. That’s part of why it’s pursuing FAST and AVOD in the fragmented and diverse U.S. market, Park said, where both offer a low barrier to entry wherever and however viewers want to watch.
AVOD and FAST complementary
Park views AVOD and FAST as complementary models, where the key difference is how viewers discover and consume content.
FAST lets people stumble onto Korean entertainment while flipping through linear channels, serving to introduce content to new audiences.
AVOD, meanwhile, can serve existing K-content fans who already know what they want, allowing CJ ENM to offer a broader library and encourage continued consumption of individual shows.
“FAST can create a first point of discovery, while AVOD can turn that interest into broader and deeper engagement with Korean programming,” Park explained. “Together, they help us grow the audience for Korean content.”
Building global fans with K-content, genres that cross cultures, languages
Delivering content that can easily resonate across borders is key to bringing Korean programming to international markets – something Park believes dance is well suited for.
“Dance is a particularly compelling genre for international audiences because it can be enjoyed intuitively, across language and cultural barriers,” he said.
And it’s seen “encouraging viewing results” in North America for seasons of the Street Woman Fighter franchise featuring international dance crews.
“That response showed us that dance programming has the potential to appeal well beyond existing Korean entertainment fans.”
He also sees it as well-suited to the lean-back viewing nature of scheduled FAST programming.
“Dance performances are visually engaging even if someone has not followed the full storyline, which makes them a natural fit for linear FAST.”
Interest in K-content expands to new genres
Through its distribution activities in North America, Park said it has seen interest in Korean entertainment broaden beyond K-dramas.
“While romantic Korean dramas have attracted considerable attention on global subscription streaming services, our FAST and AVOD offerings have performed well with genre-driven series such as thrillers and crime dramas, recently aired Korean variety shows, and unscripted dating formats featuring everyday people.”
Formats like ExChange, which follows real relationships and emotional shifts among its participants, are especially interesting to CJ ENM “because its stories can resonate even with viewers who are not deeply familiar with Korean culture.”
Separately, Samsung TV Plus just expanded its own lineup of K-content with new genres and formats including a short-form microdrama slate, weekly movie nights and competitions.
AI-assisted subbing and dubbing for faster delivery
Another priority, per Park, is to help international fans enjoy the latest programming from Korea “with as little delay as possible after its original broadcast.”
“We have expanded this type of distribution this year and aim to keep narrowing the gap between the Korean broadcast and U.S. availability, making it easier for viewers to stay connected to what's happening in Korean entertainment right now.”
To support that aim, CJ ENM uses AI-assisted translations and subtitling (with a final review by human specialists) and is testing AI dubbing for content on its FAST channels to improve localization efficiency and quality as the content moves from broadcast in Korea to FAST in North America.
On this front, it received help from participation in the AI-dubbing-focused K-FAST expansion support initiative launched last year by Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Association for ICT Promotion (KAIT).
Through support from the initiative, it gained practical experience, producing AI-dubbed versions of selected seasons from the Street Woman Fighter franchise for the new K-Dance channel, including both English and Spanish dubs alongside English subtitles.
Per Park, this gives the company “more options for presenting the same IP across different languages and viewing preferences.” That includes Spanish-language localization, which he said it views as “essential” alongside English as it looks to remove historical language barriers to Korean content internationally.
Looking ahead it would like to offer more content in local languages in markets like Brazil and France, where the exec cited “strong interest for Korean entertainment.”
2027: Deepening existing presence, turning reach into ad revenue
In 2027, Park said CJ ENM wants to put greater emphasis on increasing presence and impact within the platforms already carrying its channels. That feeds into its main priority for next year: turning existing distribution reach and audience bases into “meaningful growth in our advertising business.”
From a platform presence perspective, that means adding channels where appropriate and working with FAST partners on content discovery, scheduling, promotion, and other efforts that can ultimately grow viewing hours for each channel.
“Our goal is to build partnerships in which stronger viewing performance for CJ ENM programming also contributes to engagement and advertising revenue for the platforms, creating meaningful results for both sides,” he explained.
Dynamics with platform partners
That said, as FAST has matured in the U.S., relationships between FAST channel owners and the platforms that carry them are evolving.
Earlier this year Dave Bernath, CEO of FAST vendor Wurl, zeroed in on some challenges with these relationships during a keynote session at the StreamTV Show. He suggested that channel success can sometimes be at the mercy of FAST platform partners and whether they pull certain levers, such as favorable placements in the UI and/or EPG to help discoverability, offering content partners visibility into channel performance data or agreeing to certain revenue or inventory models.
CJ ENM sees opportunity in the FAST market, but Park suggested some shifts in approach to better drive viewership and advertising revenue for its channels.
Improving channel performance, need for discoverability in FAST
When it comes to improving channel performance and working with platform partners, as Bernath noted, advertising isn’t the only lever at play.
Park acknowledged that content providers don’t always have access to detailed audience data that FAST platforms are privy to.
Due to that, CJ ENM experiments with programming strategies to strengthen channels based on what it does know about viewing behavior, such as scheduling shows featuring talent from titles currently trending on global streaming services and building thematic lineups around major U.S. seasonal events and marketing moments.
Over time, the hope is stronger FAST channel identities and more distinctive programming will support its broader content brand recognition goal.
And strong channel identity and differentiated content can be particularly important in FAST, where lineups have ballooned into the hundreds, and as Park noted, “discovery can be a real challenge.”
“Making quality content available is only part of the equation; helping viewers find it matters just as much,” he said, while indicating a desire for more chances for prominent visibility.
“Promotions on U.S. FAST services often center on familiar American television series and films or established library franchises,” he said. “We would welcome more opportunities for Korean entertainment and other programming that can create new viewing demand to be featured and promoted.”
CJ ENM hopes to create a virtuous cycle, where strong channel and content visibility drives viewing and ad revenue – in turn supporting further investment in high-quality content.
Shifting from revenue share to inventory split
To better attract advertisers and drive monetization, the company is also working to adjust revenue models with platform partners.
Historically, CJ ENM’s North American FAST business has mainly operated on a revenue-share model, where the platform sells the advertising and CJ ENM gets a share of the resulting revenue.
That model supported its early distribution expansion, but per Park, offered few chances to pitch its content’s distinctive value directly to advertisers or to increase the value of its ad offerings.
As such, this year it began moving to an inventory split with select major platforms, where CJ ENM gets access to a proportion of the ad inventory to sell directly.
It also aims to expand its direct advertising business together with its US subsidiary and advertising sales team.
An integrated ad offering
Similar to its FAST channels tapping into IP from across the business, CJ ENM intends to combine its digital audience touchpoints, including YouTube and global K-pop fandom platform Mnet+ (alongside AVOD and FAST) for advertisers.
“Our goal is to bring these assets together as an integrated advertising portfolio and develop distinctive offerings that only CJ ENM can provide,” Park said.
Advertisers appear particularly keen on targeting fandoms these days, while marketing funnels and intersections of segments and touchpoints are getting more sophisticated.
Park described how FAST and AVOD build brand awareness on the TV screen, YouTube extends reach to a wider digital audience and Mnet+ encourages active participation among K-pop fans.
“Connecting these different viewing and fandom experiences through our IP could offer advertisers marketing value that goes beyond ad impressions alone.”
And the multi-arm entertainment and distribution could give CJ ENM an edge amid a crowded content space.
“As viewing habits diversify beyond subscription streaming to FAST, AVOD, YouTube, and vertical short-form platforms, the ability to create and supply high-quality programming across a wide range of genres becomes a major competitive advantage,” he commented.
Ambitions for channel brands in their own right
As CJ ENM continues its FAST push in the US, it’s not pursuing a growing channel count for its own sake.
Instead, its longer-term ambition is to develop IP that attracts a strong enough fandom and viewing demand to support dedicated FAST channels.
“We would like our flagship franchises to become channel brands in their own right, creating opportunities for a more diverse portfolio of IP-led channels,” Park said. “We want those channels to develop loyal audiences and generate substantial viewing time, strengthening CJ ENM's presence across FAST platforms over the long term.”