Exploring the issues for the success of multichannel network businesses in Korea

With the increasing popularity of online video content like YouTube carries, multichannel network (MCN) businesses have appeared. MCNs are organizations that partner with individual creators. They support production, promotion, copyright management, monetization, and share a portion of the revenue. The activation of the MCN industry is indispensable for the growth of a rich content environment. Despite the diverse stakeholder relationships that characterize the MCN industry (e.g., the MCN, creator, brand, advertising agency, platform, and users) most previous studies focused only on the perspectives of the creators and MCN participants. This study aims to identify each stakeholder’s viewpoint. Using an interview-based systems approach, we interviewed 40 stakeholders in the MCN industry. After using a Causal Loop Diagram (CLD) to analyze the key factors and interactions among the diverse stakeholders, we suggest activation propositions. This study offers theoretical and practical implications through comprehensive understanding of six different perspectives within this industry.