270 Trillion Won Market, the ‘Junggungmong’ Rising Again in the K-Content Industry

Meeting Local Buyers Including Broadcast Media in Shanghai, China
K-pop Singer Attends Chinese Music Awards for the First Time in 7 Years
Smilegate to Launch 'Lost Ark' in China Next Month

The 'Chinese Dream' is resurfacing in the K-content industry. This is because a favorable wind from China is blowing through Korea's three major content sectors: video, music, and games. Attention is focused on whether content exports, which had been strained since the deployment of THAAD in 2016, can become active again.

Korea Creative Content Agency and Korean Companies Participating in the Shanghai TV Festival (Photo by Korea Creative Content Agency)

The Korea Creative Content Agency recently organized a Korean joint pavilion at the '28th Shanghai TV Festival' for the first time in four years, supporting business consultations. It is the largest broadcasting and video event in East Asia. Korean companies, including KBS and HYBE, along with 10 major broadcasting, video, and platform companies, participated in full force. The Drama Producers Association and KOCCA also set up separate booths to promote various contents and key events. A total of 101 export consultations were held, achieving consultation amounts worth 33.05 million USD (approximately 48 billion KRW).

K-pop artists are also participating in a music awards event hosted by a Chinese company for the first time in seven years. Five Korean artist groups under HYBE's labels, including SEVENTEEN and LE SSERAFIM, will attend the Tencent Music Entertainment Awards (TMEA) held in Macau on July 8-9. LE SSERAFIM plans to hold a local fan signing event as well. Tencent Music operates a music distribution platform similar to Melon in Korea.

Domestic content companies have been unable to operate in China due to unofficial regulations known as the 'Hallyu ban.' Although not explicitly prohibited by law, no K-pop artist has performed on the Chinese mainland since the deployment of THAAD. Korean dramas and movies disappeared from Chinese broadcasts and are now only available on online platforms. Signs are emerging that this atmosphere may be changing.

Lost Ark, which is about to launch its service in China (Photo by Tencent)

Since seven Korean games received foreign game licenses (permission to service games in China) last year, the gaming industry has high expectations for the Chinese market. A representative company is Smilegate. Holding the No.1 spot in China's FPS market with 'Crossfire,' Smilegate will launch the Chinese service of another flagship game, 'Lost Ark,' on July 20. Nexon and Netmarble have also started pre-registrations and beta tests.

The Chinese content market is the world's second largest after the United States. As of 2021, the broadcasting industry size was 1.1488 trillion yuan, the gaming market was 265.8 billion yuan, and the digital music market was 74.2 billion yuan, totaling 1.4888 trillion yuan (approximately 270 trillion KRW). Despite ongoing unofficial regulations, China still loves K-content. Among foreign countries, China is the second largest market for K-pop album sales (51.32 million USD in 2022) and the largest export market for Korean films (8.39 million USD in 2021). It is said that about half of SEVENTEEN's latest album's first-week sales of 4.55 million copies were purchased by Chinese fans. This is why Korean companies are welcoming signs of China's market opening.

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