한국콘텐츠진흥원 KOREA CREATIVE CONTENT AGENCY

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Statistics / trends

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Main Statistics of Korea’s Content Market

The size of Korea’s content market in 2008 was $54.5 billion, representing a 1.9% increase from the previous year.
In 2009, it is expected to grow by 4.1% to $56.7 billion. This rapid growth in 2009 derives from the game,
music and broadcasting industries.

Content Market
The number of content-related companies decreased by 5.3% from 129,603 in 2007 to 123,917 in 2008. However, average sales per company increased by 37% to $439,000.
Size of Korea’s Content Industry in 2008
Market No. of Companies No. of Workers Sales
($1 million)		 Export
($1,000)		 Import
($1,000)
Games 82,895 188,496 21,662 1,594,834 687,541
Cartoons 29,293 42,730 4,671 1,093,685 386,920
Music 10,180 10,709 603 4,135 5,937
Animation 40,121 75,648 2,064 16,468 11,484
Broadcasting 276 3,924 337 80,583 6,132
Characters 1,504 34,393 9,733 171,533 78,389
Total 1,521 21,092 4,249 228,250 198,679

The number of workers stood at 501,527, showing a 0.4% increase from 2007. Also, average sales per person increased by 2% to $108,000.

The content industry recorded growth of 22.4%, or $436.54 million, with export earning rising to 2.4 billion dollars. Also, imports increased by 4.3 million dollars(0.14%) to $3.2 billion. Excluding exports and imports in the advertisement industry, the entire content industry generated profits of approximately $1.2billion.

Statistics and Trends of Korea’s Content Market Korea’s Content Industry By Field

Games Market
In 2008, the games market grew by 9% to $4.6 billion. It is expected to hit $5.5 billion with growth of 17% in 2009. This rapid growth is due to the diversification of online game exports and the expansion of mobile game services.
Game exports in 2008 increased by 40% from 2007 to $1.9 billion. This figure is 2.8 times greater than import earnings ($370 million) and marks its sixth straight year of profit. For the four years from 2005 to 2008, the game market recorded an average growth rate of 24.7%. Export earnings from online games have been skyrocketing with expansion to Japan, China, the United States, Europe, Taiwan and Southeast Asia. In 2009, the export market will hit 1.5 billion dollars and grow by 40.1%.

Music Market
With the strengthening of intellectual property rights in 2008, Korea’s music market recorded $2 billion in sales, marking a 10.1% increase from 2007. The government is promoting policies to prevent piracy and encourage legal distribution. In 2009, growth of 3% is expected from increased music sales and overseas concerts by Korean pop idols.
While music exports decreased by an average of 9.8% over the preceding four years, they rose by 1% in 2008. This was caused by the rising popularity of Korean artists in Southeast Asia. With this trend, exports will increase by 18.6% to $19 million in 2009.

Cartoon Market
For the past few year, Korea’s cartoon market has been led by educational cartoons for children that combine Chinese, English and mathematics with games and animated characters. Many of these cartoons have been successfully reproduced as TV series, films and games.
Over the four year from 2005 to 2008, the cartoon market enjoyed an annual average growth rate of 18.4%. However, this figure decreased by 5.8% to $0.6 billion in 2008. Exports, on the other hand, increased by 3.7% to 4.13 million dollars, and are expected to hit $4.3 million in 2009.

Animation Market
In 2008, the animation market grew by 30.1% to $ 0.3 billion. This rapid growth came about as a result of the expansion of the market for original animations. In the past, Korea’s animation industry served as a subcontractor for global companies but, today, the original animation sector is growing with the aid of investment funds and overseas investments.
For the four years form 2004 to 2007, the animation market experienced growth of 0.9%. In 2008, export earnings increased by 10.7% to $80.58 million. Two of the main factors behind this success are the diversification of export countries, and joint projects.

Character Market
Korea’s character market experienced a rapid advance over the four-year period 2005~2008. The market grew from $1.7 billion in 2005 to $4.3 billion in 2008. Of course, this figure includes character development and licensing, character product manufacturing, wholesale and retail.
This results from the success of Pororo and Pucca in not only the Chinese but also the global market. As such, export earnings increased by 12.5% to $230 million in 2008. Types of exports have increased from OEM to end-products and licenses.

Broadcasting Market
In 2008, the broadcasting market grew by 8.1% to $ 9.7 billion. While terrestrial and satellite broadcasting sales fell as a result of the economic depression, cable broadcasting revenues increased by 15.6% to $2 billion. Program providers, including home shopping channels, posted $3.5 billion in sales, representing growth of 5.4%.
Having enjoyed an annual growth rate of 12% since 2005, the export earnings of the broadcasting content market hit $171 million in 2008. This figure is expected to reach $1.8 million 2009 with the spreading of the Korean wave.