[Herald Interview] ‘World Dice Tour’ applies YouTube formula to reality TV: producer

“World Dice Tour,” one of ENA's most successful shows to date, ended the seventh and last episode of its second season Saturday.

In addition to airing every Saturday on the airwaves, each episode of “World Dice Tour” has been released in an edited version via YouTube every Thursday. It has recorded a cumulative 24 million views on the video-sharing platform, reaching new highs in viewer count with each new episode released. The show has also been sold to 115 countries overseas.

Like a life-size board game, the reality travel show features three YouTubers embarking on impromptu trips with a roll of the dice to decide where they go next.

Starring popular travel YouTubers Pani Bottle, Kwak Tube and Wonji alongside TV celebrities with matching personalities and special chemistries Joon Park, Gong Myung, Kim Yong-myung, Kang Ki-young, Kim Do-hoon and Won Jin-ah, the audience has been able to travel along with the group via the screen to 12 countries so far, including Oman, India, Brazil and more.

Behind the popular show is star producer Kim Tae-ho, the director of MBC TV reality shows including “Hangout With Yoo” and the hugely popular “Infinite Challenge” that ran from 2005 to 2018.

Kim departed from MBC in 2022 to establish his own content production firm called Teo.

Kim told The Korea Herald in an interview on Wednesday that he intended to strategically target audiences on TV and YouTube by releasing the show in two different formats.

“If season one was a learning process on how YouTubers create their content and how to apply their content creation formula to TV reality shows, our production team has focused on maximizing colors of the TV show format and YouTube content format separately (in the second season),” Kim said in the interview.

“For YouTube content, we tried to include small talk between the cast and tried to make use of GoPro clips that the YouTubers actually filmed. For episodes on TV, we put more scenes that you prefer to enjoy on a larger screen, such as drone shots or picturesque scenery,” he said, adding that the show was an experiment on how to strike the right mix between YouTube content and TV reality show.

“World Dice Tour” is one of Teo’s first projects, having kicked off with the company’s founding members. Kim said the program contributed to young producers and TV directors at Teo taking a step further to grow themselves.

“Because shooting took place at three different locations simultaneously, the show definitely gave more opportunities to producers to nurture their decision-making skills and strengthen their content creation techniques,” said the 49-year-old producer.

Kim went on to say that the content’s sustainability is key to defining what makes a “good TV show,” and his magic formula is in the constant challenge of change.

“By producing the second season of ‘World Dice Tour,’ our team had a thorough thought process on what sustainability is. Without change, there is no point of making a new season,” Kim said, adding that brainstorming for the next season is to begin in the fall.

“I believe that giving it a try is important. My previous shows all started out as a pilot TV program. I thought that I was experimenting for five weeks, and then I found a crucial point on how to continue producing that show,” Kim noted. “It’s important to make content that evolves with change, and something that also attracts viewers. Sometimes, it’s your greed and expectation of making the best show in the world are what stop you from making the follow-up content.”

All episodes of “World Dice Tour” are available streaming on Netflix and Tving.