EXCLUSIVE: The K-drama craze continues around the world, with Rakuten Viki snapping up a soon-to-launch drama starring Song Joong-ki (Reborn Rich) and Chun Woo-hee (The Wailing) for multiple territories.
The Asian entertainment-focused streaming has acquired rights to My Youth in the U.S., Latin America and Europe. It will launch on streaming service Viki in September.
Directed by Lee Sang-yeop (Yumi’s Cells) and written by Park Si-hyeon, the series follows Sun Woo-hae (Song) and his first love, Sung Je-yeon (Chun), who reconnect after a decade apart. Sun has found comfort and satisfaction in his work as a novelist and florist after a difficult childhood in the entertainment industry, while Sung is driven to reach the highest echelons of career success as a team leader at Feel Entertainment, having seen her wealthy family lose everything. Their reunion forces them to confront the past and their present selves.
“My Youth features incredible storytelling, as well as wonderful talent both behind and in front of the camera,” said Jaehee Hong, SVP of Content at Rakuten Viki. “The series makes an excellent addition to our line-up of rich K-content meant to appeal both to fans of k-drama as well as anyone looking to immerse themselves in a riveting drama.”
SLL and High-Zium Studio made the series, which is due to launch on JTBC in Korea on September 5.
For Rakuten Viki, the deal comes after it announced My Girlfriend is The Man!, a co-production with Studio N, in May. Other recent deals have included the acquisition of Toronto-premiered coming-of-age film Love in the Big City and the release of Yumi’s Cells: The Movie in July 2024 and an agreement with China’s Bilibili for a pair of animated series.
Rakuten Viki, part of e-commerce giant Rakuten Group, has over 100 million registered users in 190+ countries, and sits alongside k-entertainment news site Soompi.
In an interview with Deadline last year, Rakuten Viki revealed around than 75% of the streamer’s viewers were of non-Asian descent, and that k-content such as True Beauty, What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim, My Lovely Liar and Perfect Marriage Revenge were among its biggest hits. Other top-performing shows included Chinese titles Love Like the Galaxy and Only For Love, and Thailand’s F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers and Japan’s An Incurable Case of Love.