Korean government unveils plan to revive TV sector to reach $22bn by 2030

The busy BCWW market floor in 2025

BCWW: The South Korean government has unveiled its latest mid- to long-term blueprint for the television and streaming sectors, fast-tracking a major regulatory overhaul designed to insulate local production companies from foreign streamer dominance and boost the market size to 30 trillion won (US$22bn) by 2030.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports & Tourism published the seventh version of its strategic roadmap two years ahead of schedule, cutting its previous policy plan short to react to a local TV sector that is struggling due to escalating production costs, declining ad spend and rapid technological shifts.

The newly christened 2030 Broadcasting Vision was officially announced at the end of last week, as the South Korean content sector preps for the annual BCWW conference and market, which starts on Monday. The target of 30 trillion won is 20% up from the 25 trillion won the South Korean broadcasting and video sector generated in 2024.

Under the plan, the government also aims to nearly triple annual K-content exports to US$3.06bn over the next four years, up from the US$1.25bn figure for 2024, while doubling the proportion of independent production companies generating more than US$7.45m in annual revenue to 27.8%.

A central pillar of the initiative is a sweeping financial restructuring aimed at helping local production outfits retain intellectual property rights. The ministry plans to combine public funds, corporate loans, tax incentives and direct production subsidies to ensure South Korean creators can independently fund up to 50% of average drama production costs themselves, reducing their financial reliance on global streaming giants like Netflix.

And in an unprecedented move for South Korea’s national broadcasting framework, the government has also officially brought independent online video creators and short-form digital media platforms into its formal regulatory and funding scope.

To connect these digital creators with the international industry, the ministry intends to launch a global convention tentatively titled K-VidCon in 2028. Further international outreach will see public funds deployed directly into localised dubbing and subtitling services, allowing local content providers to bypass international companies and distribute directly into foreign markets.

The plan also maps out significant updates to digital infrastructure, including upgrades to the state-backed virtual studio facility in Daejeon and the complete overhaul of the Digital Magic Space facility in Seoul with generative AI tools. On the regulatory front, standard industry contracts will be revised to legally enforce revenue-sharing models and shield local players from global giants.

South Korea’s media policymakers emphasised that the early implementation of the 2030 Broadcasting Vision is vital to securing the future of the domestic screen sector. The ministry stated that the broadcasting, video, and streaming sector is the core engine behind the global expansion of the Hallyu wave, bringing K-culture directly into the living rooms of global audiences.

The Hallyu wave has driven huge growth in K-content exports but the ministry said due to “growing influence of global OTT services, a sharp rise in production costs, declining profitability among domestic platforms and the rapid emergence of the new media industry, epitomised by content from creators and short-form videos, a heightened sense of crisis has taken hold among production companies, platforms and other players in the domestic broadcasting and video sector.”

Addressing that “heightened sense of crisis” will no doubt be front of mind for delegates at the BCWW convention this week, where companies will be exhibiting new content they hope can help K-content exports reach that figure of US$3.06bn within the next four years.