At SBS’s New Year kickoff held at the network’s Mok-dong headquarters in Seoul on the 2nd, the company spotlighted the creators who powered its brand and content momentum in late 2025 with a round of “Special Awards.”
Honorees included Lee Je-hoon, who drove blockbuster buzz with powerhouse turns in "Taxi Driver 3," and Kim Kwang-kyu, recognized for his standout presence on "Manager Seojin." In radio, Joo Hyun-young was feted for "12 O’Clock with Joo Hyun-young," while writer Im Jin-a took home a nod for her strong pen on "The Winning Try." The long-running true-story staple "Tails of Tales" also earned recognition, with key figures Jang Hyun-sung, Jang Sung-kyu and Jang Do-yeon celebrated for their contributions.
SBS also laid out its 2026 mandate as “AI-First” and “Content Competitiveness,” positioning itself as a “content leader with AI” through rapid AI adoption and expanded, studio-led content investment.
In his New Year address, SBS President Bang Moon-shin called AI transformation and content competitiveness the network’s two make-or-break priorities, pledging to embed AI across the content chain as the industry’s value stack is rebuilt around the technology.
“AI is a force multiplier for SBS content,” Bang said, outlining four strategic pillars: production innovation, ecosystem expansion, better user experiences and new revenue streams. Immediate focus areas include scaling AI-driven planning and production, turning video data into assets, and building a broadcast-ready multimodal AI agent system. He also urged wider partnerships with public- and private-sector AI players.
To fuel long-term growth rooted in its core as a media content company, SBS will ramp up investment starting this year, boosting studio support for scripted and unscripted development and production.
“While this may increase SBS’s short-term burden, we’ll grow studios into a central engine,” Bang noted, calling content strength and investment the roadmap to “an SBS that thrives a decade from now.”
He added that SBS will tighten integrated strategy and governance across the network and its affiliates to ensure disciplined, effective investment, and asked studios and production to deliver work with clear creative intent and target audiences.
Setting the tone for 2026, SBS is aiming for No. 1 in prime-time live ratings, No. 1 influence on non-linear OTT, top ratings for major sports events including the WBC and the Nagoya Asian Games, and No. 1 for June election coverage―pledging a unified push to meet the fast-changing media landscape.
(SBS Entertainment News | Kang Sun-ae)
댓글