"Strengthening One-Person Media" Ministry of Science and ICT Launches 7.8 Billion KRW Support Project

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] The government is launching support projects to strengthen the foundation of the one-person media industry.

On the 25th, the Ministry of Science and ICT announced that it will promote the ‘2021 One-Person Media Support Project’ worth a total of 7.8 billion KRW to respond to changes in the broadcasting and media ecosystem and to establish a foundation for innovative growth in the media sector.

First, to discover and nurture creators, the government will select capable new creators and provide education, mentoring, and activity infrastructure (such as music tracks, fonts, software) through the ‘One-Person Media Creator Group Development Project.’ Following last year’s support for 153 teams across three regions nationwide, this year the project will expand to five regions nationwide and a total of 250 teams, offering more creators opportunities.

Additionally, support projects to promote high-quality content production and overseas distribution will be strengthened. Through the ‘Original Content’ production support, which helps one-person media companies secure intellectual property (IP) through content production and attract private investment, a total of 20 companies will be selected and supported this year. Furthermore, the overseas expansion re-production support project, which assists with localization such as dubbing and subtitle production for completed content, will expand support from 10 companies last year to 13 companies this year to promote overseas distribution.

A specialized support facility for the one-person media industry, the ‘One-Person Media Complex,’ will be established near Seoul Station and open in August. It will provide office space for one-person media startups and entrepreneurship support, as well as production studios capable of content creation and live broadcasting.

Moreover, to spread awareness of the one-person media industry and provide commercialization opportunities, the 3rd Civil-Government Joint ‘Korea One-Person Media Expo’ will be held this November. Various side events such as creator-company matching, domestic and international industry trend conferences, and performances by small creators will also be conducted.

Applications for this support project will be accepted for one month starting today. Among the selected content plans, those who succeed in attracting private investment can receive up to 30 million KRW in production costs, and one top work selected through result evaluation will be awarded the Minister of Science and ICT Award.

Oh Yong-su, Director of Broadcasting Promotion Policy at the Ministry of Science and ICT, stated, “One-person media is a gateway where anyone can grow into a content entrepreneur with creative ideas in the OTT era, and it is a highly potential industry that can create new added value by converging with various industries. We will continue active support so that one-person media can sustainably grow as a new media industry.”

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