Coupang Play is turning one of SNL Korea‘s most-watched digital sketches into a sitcom, ordering a 10-episode, half-hour series of The Smile Clinic. It is the first spin-off to come from any international version of Saturday Night Live.
The series grew out of SNL Korea Season 8 and satirises Korea’s cosmetic dermatology industry and the office politics inside it. Lee Su-ji, Kim Won-hun, Gong Min-jeung, Kim Kyu-won and Ji Ye-eun all return from the sketch.
The number that made the deal
NBCUniversal Formats, which licenses the SNL format and struck the deal with Coupang Play, says clips from The Smile Clinic have passed 17 million views on YouTube. For a format sale, that is the crucial figure: the audience had already found the show before a series order existed.
CP Entertainment is producing the sitcom.
From sketch to series
The US has a clear precedent for this path. Wayne’s World and Coneheads moved from Saturday Night Live to film, and MacGruber became a 2010 feature before returning as a Peacock series in 2021. What makes the Korean case notable is that it is the first time an international SNL sketch has broken out in this way.
For streamers and format owners, the logic is straightforward:
- Views are the pre-test. 17 million YouTube plays lowered the risk of a 10-episode order.
- Characters and premise are already proven. The sitcom is not starting cold with viewers.
- Local IP can travel. K-beauty is the setting, but office politics are recognisable everywhere.
Linfield Ng, VP of format sales and production at NBCUniversal Formats, said the sketch had been “one of the most viral digital shorts in Korea” and argued that the show “made complete sense.”
What it signals
SNL has been building international momentum. The UK version recently hosted Cynthia Erivo, and while its overnight ratings are modest, its sketches are pulling millions of YouTube views. Canal+ has announced a French version.
The pattern matters for media planners and streaming executives: short-form clips are increasingly doing the job of a pilot, proving audience demand and character recognition before a platform commits to a bigger budget.
Source: Deadline
