Establishment of OTT and Solo Media Content Specialized Fund... 26 Billion KRW Scale

[Asia Economy Reporter Seolgina Jo] The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 11th that it will promote a Korean Fund of Funds investment project focusing on small and venture companies in the digital media content sector, including broadcasting, internet video services (OTT), and one-person media, with a total scale of 26 billion KRW. K&Investment Partners was selected as the fund manager.

This is a follow-up measure to the "Digital Media Ecosystem Development Plan" announced last June to strengthen the global competitiveness of the domestic digital media industry. It aims to support the development of the domestic digital media industry by fostering innovative small and venture companies in the digital media content sector, where the market is expanding worldwide, including OTT.

The government judged that the growth of domestic companies is relatively slow due to disadvantages in content investment scale and lack of incentives for overseas expansion, and plans to play a catalyst role to actively induce private investment.

This digital media content specialized fund is planned to be formed with a total target of 26 billion KRW by March 2021. The government will invest 16.05 billion KRW, and the selected fund manager will recruit private investors and invest 9.95 billion KRW to form the fund. After the fund formation, investment capital will be actively supplied over four years.

The main investment targets are small and venture companies and projects related to broadcasting, internet video services, and one-person media content, with at least 60% of the fund formation amount invested. Among these, more than 20% will be invested in content that integrates ICT new technologies such as 5G mobile communication and artificial intelligence (AI), which are Korea's strengths, and content aimed at overseas expansion to enhance the competitiveness of domestic content.

Song Jaesung, Director of Broadcasting Promotion Policy at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, “The digital media industry is a promising non-face-to-face sector that can provide new business model creation and overseas expansion opportunities for small and venture companies, and the fund manager selection competition rate recorded 10:1, showing that the investment industry is also paying attention.” He added, “Through the digital media content specialized fund, we expect to actively support the growth of innovative companies lacking financial power and contribute to expanding investment for the digital transformation in the media sector.”

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