K-Content Sales Heavily Concentrated in the Seoul Metropolitan Area... Regional Disparities Becoming Entrenched [Balance Revolution]

Non-Metropolitan Sales Share Remains in the Low Teens
Infrastructure Expansion Fails to Foster Ecosystem Growth
Shift Toward Increased Regional Specialized Content Budget
Five-Year Mid-to-Long-Term Strategy in Operation Through 2030

An AI-based memorial video for independence activists, produced by the Chungnam Content Agency to commemorate the 80th anniversary of liberation, is being displayed on the electronic billboard in Times Square, New York, USA. Titled "Meeting the Memories of the Patriotic Martyrs," the video reexamines the spirit of the independence movement using previously unreleased family photos of activist Yu Gwan-sun, aiming to promote the historical value of Chungcheongnam-do to the world.

An analysis has revealed that 87.5% to 89% of sales in South Korea's content industry are concentrated in the Seoul metropolitan area. Even as the industry has expanded, this ratio has scarcely decreased, leading to a structurally entrenched regional gap.

The "Mid-to-Long-Term (2026–2030) Strategy and Performance Indicator Development for Regional Content Promotion," published by Korea Creative Content Agency on March 23, identifies the concentration in the metropolitan area as the most fundamental challenge for regional content policies. According to the report, the share of content industry sales in non-metropolitan regions remains in the low teens. Although there are production personnel and resources in the regions, a lack of supporting infrastructure and market access has resulted in a vicious cycle in which content achieves only one-off results.

The persistent concentration in the metropolitan area is due to a structure in which planning, production, distribution, and consumption all occur within the same space. Seoul and its surrounding area host a dense infrastructure covering the entire content value chain, so once this concentration is established, it is self-reinforcing. In contrast, individual creators or small companies in the regions have limited distribution networks and market access, making it difficult to scale up their achievements to the industry level.

The stagnation of the overall content industry is also a limiting factor. The size of South Korea's content industry grew at an average annual rate of about 4%, from 142.1 trillion won in 2019 to 154.3 trillion won in 2021. However, it stagnated at 154 trillion won the following year, and by 2023, growth had slowed to just 1.4%, reaching 157.6 trillion won. The macroeconomic environment is also challenging. Last year, South Korea's economic growth rate was projected to be 0.8%, 1.9 percentage points lower than the global average of 2.7%.

Maintaining a metropolitan-centric structure during a period of slowing growth inevitably weakens regional growth engines. The report views this not as a simple regional disparity, but as a structural issue affecting the competitiveness of the country's entire content industry. The failure to convert regional cultural and industrial resources into content and their subsequent neglect means that South Korea is narrowing its own foundation for growth.

At the 'Regional Customized Small to Medium Scale Content Distribution Support Project' presented by the Yeongdeok Cultural Tourism Foundation, an actor is performing a live drawing performance on stage themed around a tiger during the non-verbal performance 'Painters'.

The Korea Creative Content Agency currently operates regional hubs in sixteen locations nationwide, managing infrastructure in six areas: Content Korea Lab, Regional Content Business Support Centers, Global Game Centers, Music Creation Studios, and permanent e-sports arenas, among others. As of last year, the total budget for regional content balanced development support projects was 51.56 billion won, with 28.974 billion won (56.2%) allocated to infrastructure operation support. Among individual projects, the budget for regional specialized content development support was the largest, at 17.472 billion won.

However, simply establishing infrastructure has not solved the problem of disparity. Even with proper facilities, overlapping roles among projects and the yearly budget cycle have prevented the accumulation of results, stalling the formation of a sustainable ecosystem. This is also reflected in a survey of on-site practitioners, who largely pointed to a lack of dedicated personnel and frequent staff changes as reasons for the absence of systematic management of experience and know-how.

The report suggests that a shift in focus is needed—from infrastructure operation to the discovery and cultivation of regionally specialized content. The Korea Creative Content Agency already reduced its infrastructure operation support budget last year and significantly increased the budget for regional specialized content development. The report emphasizes that regions should not remain mere executors of central government policy, but should become independent entities that autonomously plan and implement their own initiatives.

Bridging the gap cannot be achieved simply by building more facilities in the regions. The report stresses that true balanced development requires a virtuous cycle in which regional historical, cultural, and industrial resources are planned as content, accumulated as intellectual property (IP), and translated into industrial achievements. The extent to which this cycle operates by 2030 will be the real test for this mid-to-long-term strategy.

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