Digital New Deal Cultural Content Industry Strategy Report held last September[Image source=Yonhap News]
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced on the 9th that the budget for the content sector in 2021 has been finalized at 964.3 billion KRW. This represents an increase of 52.8 billion KRW (5.8%) compared to this year's main budget of 911.5 billion KRW, accounting for 14.0% of next year's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism budget of 6.8637 trillion KRW.
The Ministry explained, "We have allocated the budget for the content sector focusing on projects to overcome the COVID-19 crisis and the 'Digital New Deal' projects." The budget was also expanded to strengthen competitiveness in major fields such as film, popular music (K-pop), games, and broadcasting video.
Expansion of Financial Support for Content Creation and Production Lays Foundation for Content Industry's Rebound
Next year's budget for the content sector includes expanded financial support for creation and production to restore the content ecosystem. Including the COVID-19 Recovery Support Fund (total 25 billion KRW raised), the Ministry expanded fund investments from the cultural and film accounts for creation and production projects in major content genres and increased the scale of completion guarantees. Additionally, the budget to support the independent art film sector, which suffered severe damage due to COVID-19, was also increased.
Expansion of Support for Non-face-to-face and Immersive Content and Cultural Technology R&D
The Ministry plans to focus on fostering next-generation content markets by combining non-face-to-face content and services such as online educational game content with immersive reality technologies like virtual and augmented reality (VR·AR) and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. Furthermore, by expanding the budget for cultural technology research and development (R&D), it will support the creation of new content markets and the enhancement of high added value.
Specifically, 136.6 billion KRW was allocated for digital New Deal content industry development, 26.5 billion KRW (new) for online immersive K-pop performance production support in popular music, 4.3 billion KRW (new) for AI-linked immersive content production support, and 3.6 billion KRW (new) for 5G location-based immersive services utilizing core content intellectual property (IP).
Support to Strengthen Competitiveness by Content Sector Establishes Foundation for the Spread of New Hallyu
The budget for supporting content by sector to promote the emergence and spread of K-content was also expanded. By sector, the budgets for film industry promotion (105.2 billion KRW), popular culture industry development including music (54 billion KRW), game industry development (64.6 billion KRW), and media industry development (179.9 billion KRW) increased compared to the previous year.
The investment amount from the film account targeting mid- to low-budget Korean films and the support amount for independent art film production increased. Support will also be provided for the establishment of a pre-production course at the Film Academy and the expanded operation of regular and feature-length courses. To improve the viewing environment for disabled audiences, support for disabled-friendly film production will be expanded from offline (about 30 films annually) to online (about 100 films annually), and online viewing fees will be newly supported. In the animation sector, production technologies and creative capabilities applicable to practical creation and production will be transferred to cultivate field-customized personnel.
Support for OTT-specialized Content Production and Creation of Safe Production Environment
In response to the expansion of the online video service (OTT) market, a production support project to strengthen the content competitiveness of domestic OTT operators will be newly established. Out of the total 62.6 billion KRW budget for broadcasting video content industry development, 1.5 billion KRW was newly allocated to support OTT-specialized content production. To respond to the growing demand for digital publishing content, support for e-book production (1.5 billion KRW) and audiobook production (1.8 billion KRW) will be expanded, and support for technology development integrating new technologies such as AI, AR, and VR into publishing content will also be increased.
Kim Hyun-hwan, Director of the Content Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said, "Next year's budget plans to focus investment on ▲ projects to overcome the COVID-19 crisis ▲ strengthening digital innovation and cultural technology research and development (R&D) capabilities ▲ and enhancing competitiveness in the global market by sector, in preparation for the slowdown in growth caused by this year's content ecosystem crisis due to COVID-19, accelerated digital transformation, and growth imbalance by sector."
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