Studio Monowa, a new Japan-Korea content joint venture, was launched by CJ ENM, TBS, and U-Next Holdings on April 30th at the CJ ENM Center in Seoul, attended by the top executives of the three companies.
The venture aims to combine CJ ENM’s K-drama production expertise with TBS’s proprietary IP pipeline and U-Next’s streaming infrastructure, covering all stages of the content business, from property development to exposure to a global audience and expansion into ancillary revenue.
Based on the agreed responsibilities, CJ ENM will lead content planning and creative differentiation, TBS will be responsible for sourcing Japanese original IP and managing channel releases, and U-Next, Japan’s leading local streaming service with over 5 million paying subscribers and a library of over 440,000 titles, will be responsible for distributing the venture’s original titles on its platform.
CJ ENM CEO Yoon Sang-hyun said, “Through cooperation with major content companies representing Korea and Japan, we will introduce hit content targeting not only Asia but the global market.” “By establishing an innovative partnership that brings together K Content’s systematic planning capabilities and global production expertise from the early IP development stage, we are committed to evolving into a world-leading premium IP studio.”
The studio name comes from the Japanese words “mono” (story) and “wa” (harmony), and Studio Monowa is positioned as a space where Korean and Japanese content fuses into new value. Each project is managed on a lifetime value basis, with revenues expected to accumulate over multiple stages of the property’s commercial life, rather than at the time of initial release.
The origins of this partnership date back to April 2025, when CJ Group Chairman Lee Jae-hyun visited Japan and met with TBS executives, including Chairman Takashi Sasaki and CEO Ryujiro Abe, to explore collaboration. These discussions gradually evolved towards the formal establishment of the JV.
CJ ENM’s past achievements in Japan include the Japanese remake of the Amazon original series “Marry My Husband,” which ranked first in Google Japan’s “2025 Search Year” drama category, and the Japan-Korea co-production “Love is for the Dogs,” co-produced with TBS through Studio Dragon.
“I am very happy to be able to launch Studio Monowa with CJ ENM, a world-class hit maker, and UNEXT Holdings, which is actively promoting the production and global expansion of original content,” said Abe. “The ‘trinity’ of CJ ENM’s world-renowned production DNA, TBS’s creative expertise, and U-Next Holdings’ powerful platform reach allows us to introduce groundbreaking content that captivates audiences around the world and consistently captures their attention.”
TBS, whose production company The Seven is responsible for titles such as “Vivant,” “MIU404,” and “Alice in Modern Country,” has made collaboration with overseas partners a strategic priority under the TBS Group Medium-Term Management Plan 2026. The broadcaster has also made a strategic investment in Legendary Entertainment.
“We are pleased to establish Studio Monowa with CJ ENM, a leader in the Korean entertainment industry, and TBS, a long-standing pillar of the Japanese drama industry,” said Tenshin Tsutsumi, CEO of UNEXT. “By bringing together CJ ENM’s global planning know-how, TBS’s top-class drama production capabilities, and the management know-how that U-Next has accumulated as a platform, we will do our best to create new hits that will be broadcast from Japan to the world.”
According to a Roland Berger workshop document cited by the companies, Japan’s content IP market (spanning IP development, video production, streaming and spin-off businesses) will be valued at approximately 67 trillion won ($45.3 billion) in 2023, with the streaming sector growing at an annual rate of 20.5%. U-Next has recorded uninterrupted revenue growth for the past nine years.
