South Korea's CJ ENM, Japan's TBS and streaming platform U-Next Holdings have launched a formal joint venture called StudioMonowa, aimed at producing and distributing content built on Korean and Japanese intellectual property for global audiences.
The deal was signed April 30 at the CJ ENM Center in Seoul, with CJ ENM CEO Yoon Sang-hyun, TBS President and CEO Abe Ryujiro, and U-Next CEO Tsutsumi Tenshin all present. It represents the culmination of discussions that began in April 2025, when CJ Group chair Lee Jay-hyun visited Japan and met with TBS leadership, including chair Sasaki Takashi, to explore potential collaboration.
The name StudioMonowa draws from two Japanese words: "mono," meaning story, and "wa," meaning harmony. The venture is designed to position Korean and Japanese content as complementary rather than competing.
Under the structure, CJ ENM will take the lead on content planning and creative development. TBS — one of Japan's biggest broadcasters, whose production house The Seven is responsible for titles including "Alice in Borderland," "Vivant," and "MIU404" — will source original Japanese IP and manage channel distribution. U-Next, Japan's leading local streaming service with more than 5 million paid subscribers and a library exceeding 440,000 titles, will handle distribution on its platform. TBS also recently made a strategic investment in Legendary Entertainment.
The partners described their operating model as a "lifetime value" structure, meaning returns are expected to build across multiple phases of a property's commercial life — sequels, spin-offs, and ancillary businesses — rather than at the point of initial release, according to Deadline. That approach reflects the broader scale of the Japanese content market, which Deadline reported was valued at around $45 billion in 2023, with original IP accounting for roughly $17 billion of that total. Japan's streaming sector is growing at an annual rate of 20.5%.
"Through our collaboration with the leading content companies representing Korea and Japan, we will introduce hit content that targets not only Asia but the global market," Yoon said. "By establishing an innovative partnership that integrates K-content's systematic planning capabilities with global production expertise from the initial IP development stage, we are committed to evolving into a leading global premium IP studio."
CJ ENM already has a track record in the Korean-Japanese space. The company produced the Japanese remake of Amazon's "Marry My Husband," which topped the drama category of Google Japan's Year in Search rankings in 2025. It also worked with TBS via Studio Dragon on the Korea-Japan co-production "Love Is for the Dogs."
Abe called the new venture a "trinity" of complementary strengths. "The 'trinity' of CJ ENM's world-renowned production DNA, TBS's creative expertise, and U-Next Holdings' powerful platform reach will allow us to showcase groundbreaking content that captivates global audiences," he said, as reported by Variety.
No specific titles from the new venture have been announced yet.
