[2020 National Audit] "7.1 Billion Spent... But 24% of Ministry of Culture and Agencies' YouTube Channels Have Fewer Than 1,000 Subscribers"

Im Oh-kyung, Democratic Party Lawmaker, "Budget Execution Must Be Efficient"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and its affiliated agencies invested over 7 billion KRW in producing YouTube videos for national promotion, but many channels showed poor promotional effectiveness, raising calls for more efficient management strategies.

According to the status of YouTube channels operated by affiliated agencies disclosed on the 25th by Im Oh-kyung, a member of the National Assembly’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee from the Democratic Party, a total of 62 channels are run by 45 agencies including the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, with approximately 7.1 billion KRW spent on channel production and promotion. Among these, 15 channels, accounting for 24% of the total, had fewer than 1,000 subscribers.

In terms of production and promotion expenditure, the Korea Culture and Information Service’s 'Korea.net' channel ranked first with 1.2 billion KRW, followed by the International Broadcasting Exchange Foundation’s 'ARIRANG TV' and 17 other channels in second place (880 million KRW), and KTV’s 'KTV National Broadcasting' in third place (632 million KRW).

When evaluating inefficiency based on cost per view, the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation’s 'National Fitness 100' channel ranked first. It spent 54 million KRW to achieve about 16,000 views, resulting in a cost of 3,446 KRW per view. This is significantly less efficient compared to the recent popular Korea Tourism Organization’s 'Feel the Rhythm of Korea' videos, which spent 200 million KRW on the first three videos and garnered approximately 80 million YouTube views, equating to only 2.5 KRW per view.

Following the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation, the Korea Center on Gambling Problems channel ranked second in inefficiency, spending 116 million KRW for 87,000 views (1,328 KRW per view), and the Taekwondo Promotion Foundation channel ranked third, spending 550 million KRW for about 627,000 views (877 KRW per view).

Assembly member Im stated, "There are institutions like the National Gugak Center and the Korea Culture Information Service that have recorded over 10 million views without separate production or promotion costs," and added, "The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism should share the know-how of institutions that achieved high results with low costs and ensure efficient execution of promotional budgets."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.