“Netflix earned 1 trillion won from ‘Squid Game’”… the Korean government to invest 4.8 trillion won to foster OTT in Korea
The government plans to invest a large amount of money over 5 years to encourage the development of K-content and OTT streaming services.
Although Korea has competitive content like “Squid Game”, they plan to prevent intellectual property (IP) from being leaked overseas due to lack of funds. Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Park Bo-gyun reported the K-content support plan in a business report conducted at the Presidential Office in Yongsan, Seoul, on July 21st.
Global box-office hit drama “Squid Game” is a regretting case in terms of intellectual property (IP) although it has promoted the status of K-content in the world. Netflix earned more than 1 trillion won from “Squid Game”, but the profit received by South Korea fell short of 30 billion won, including the production cost, because they failed to secure IP. Therefore, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism plans to use Korean culture, which is gaining huge attention from people around the world, as a national brand that leads the economy. He also suggested providing support to the sustainable K-content industry ecosystem with content policies led by the private sector and pushed by the government.
◆ Supplying 4.8 trillion won to foster companies like Disney over 5 years
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will develop movies, OTT contents, and K-pop as pillars of economic growth.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism plans to foster global intellectual property (IP) companies, such as Disney, by expanding their financing policies. They will take the lead in resolving blind spots of investment in the content industry by supplying 4.8 trillion won over five years. It is three times the amount of content policy financing supplied over the period of 2017-2021.
In addition, the Korean Wave will be expanded to the virtual world (metabus) by utilizing new technologies such as “K-meta World” and the construction of virtual museums. In order to intensively foster OTT content, the government will create a drama fund worth 40 billion won and strengthen production infrastructure, such as establishing better filming sites.
◆ “Support but not interfere”.. Fostering young artists
Based on the value of freedom and the principle of “support but do not interfere,” the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism plans to introduce a creative environment that embodies the originality of culture and arts, bold unconventional and innovation.
They will give the first support to young artists with no history of benefiting from the Art and Literature Promotion Fund, and provide joints for artists who have had no activities for more than three years.
◆ Improvement of accessibility to cultural facilities for the elderly and disabled
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will expand cultural access opportunities for the disabled and the elderly across the country.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism plans to create an environment where people with disabilities can travel easily by establishing a tourism city for the disabled and training people who can help with tourism (tour care).
Projects in which senior citizens can create and enjoy culture with young people, and projects to help children and adolescents grow into members of society through musical instruments and dances, will also be promoted.
◆ The national travel savings system
The Korean government also pays attention to regional balance by creating cultural, tourism, and sports hubs suitable for regional characteristics.
In particular, in order to increase the duration of tourists’ stay, the “travel-friendly work system,” “living in the region” type of tourism, “night tourism,” and “travel with pets” will be activated. In order to ease the economic burden on the people, the ‘National Travel Savings (tentative name)’ system will be introduced, in which the government, local governments, and companies provide related benefits intensively for domestic travel.
In consultation with relevant ministries such as visa-free entry and increase of international flights, conditions for tourism to Korea will be normalized as soon as possible. Tourism to Korea is set to be quickly restored and expanded.
Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Park Bo-gyun said, “The era of cultural prosperity has come when the world is paying attention to our content. K-content will be the mainstay of our economy, focusing on K-movies, K-dramas, online streaming service (OTT) contents and K-pop.”
Source: Insight
