A video consultation on Korean content exports was held from July 6-7 at the Seoul COEX in the city’s Gangnam-gu District and jointly hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA). The photo shows staff from a Korean content company speaking to an overseas buyer during the two-day event. (KOCCA)
By Yoon Sojung
The global popularity of the hit TV series “Squid Game” and “Pachinko” is making countries consider more imports of Hallyu content.
A video business consultation was jointly hosted from July 6-7 at the Seoul COEX in the capital’s Gangnam-gu District by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA). The ministry and KOCCA on July 11 said participants discussed exports worth an estimated USD 39 million (KRW 50.8 billion).
Marking its third edition, the event was designed to help Korean content companies penetrate overseas markets.
This year’s consultation was the largest scale in its history, with 112 buyers taking part from 21 countries including China, Japan, the U.S. and Indonesia and 52 Korean companies in sectors like broadcasting, animation, characters and gaming including CJ ENM, SM C&C and the Pinkfong Co.
The accumulated export value at the 2020 consultation was an estimated USD 6.6 million (KRW 8.6 billion) and last year’s saw USD 38 million (KRW 49.5 billion), with the latter amount being six times that of 2020. This year’s also showed a slight increase from the 2021 event.
A combined 274 video consultations took place during the two-day event, up 30% from last year.
Participating companies held individual consultations with overseas buyers on broadcast and streaming rights, remakes or joint production of Korean content. KOCCA said Studio Vandal and Big Fun held “positive” talks with overseas buyers on signing memorandums of understanding and contracts.
Ji Kyeong-hwa, head of KOCCA’s Global Business Division, said, “Because K-content has recently gained high popularity around the world, we were able to host the largest consultation in scale in history thanks to high buyer interest,” adding, “We will continue hosting non-contact export consultations and resume overseas marketing to actively help domestic content companies enter overseas markets both on- and offline.”
arete@korea.kr
