Media and Content Industry Receives 500 Billion Won Injection, "Rain in a Drought"

Ministry of Science and ICT Signs Business Agreement with Finance and Industry Sectors
Government Establishes New Fund Worth 100 Billion Won
80 Billion Policy Finance and 340 Billion Industry Investment Induced

A fund of 500 billion KRW will be injected into the domestic media and content industry facing a surge in production costs. The government, financial sector, and industry have joined forces to aggressively invest in excellent content and to secure overseas expansion and IP (intellectual property rights).

On the 15th, the Ministry of Science and ICT announced that it signed a 'Digital Media and Content Investment Activation and Financial Support Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).' The event was attended by Lee Jong-ho, Minister of Science and ICT; Kim Sung-tae, President of IBK Industrial Bank of Korea; Hwang Hyun-sik, CEO of LG Uplus; Jung Han-geun, President of the Korea Communications Agency; and executives from the three IPTV companies. Media and content industry leaders, including Lee Tae-hyun, CEO of Wavve, also attended to express their welcome.

Through this agreement, the scope of investment and financial support will be expanded among policy financial institutions, industry, and even overseas. The government will newly establish a fund worth 100 billion KRW focused on three major digital media and content sectors (OTT, metaverse, and creators). These include ▲ a global digital media fund investing in media and content projects or equity in OTT and creator fields, and ▲ a digital content fund investing in media and content companies utilizing metaverse, XR, VR, etc.

Policy financial institutions will provide approximately 80 billion KRW in investments, loans, and guarantees. In cooperation with IBK Industrial Bank of Korea, a ‘Media Startup Investment Program’ will be promoted, investing 10 billion KRW over the next three years (at least 2 billion KRW this year) in excellent media startups, linked with Ministry of Science and ICT support projects (such as resident companies in the one-person media complex and selected companies for broadcasting program production support). Regarding loans and guarantees, policy financial institutions (IBK Industrial Bank of Korea, Korea Credit Guarantee Fund) plan to provide about 70 billion KRW in loans and guarantees to media and content companies this year.

The industry will induce investments at the level of 340 billion KRW. The three IPTV companies (KT, SK Broadband, LG Uplus) will encourage expanded content investment through the jointly planned content procurement brand iPICK, worth 300 billion KRW, to respond to competition with global OTTs. The plan is to invest in content that can be provided not only on IPTV but also on OTT platforms. Additionally, the Korea IT Fund (KIF), established by the three mobile carriers for ICT industry development with a total of 44 billion KRW raised this year, will include digital media and content as a major investment area to encourage expanded investment.

Lee Jong-ho, Minister of Science and ICT, stated, “We will thoroughly implement the investment activation plan announced today in cooperation with financial institutions and the media and content industry,” adding, “We will pursue policies to continuously expand the supply of funds across the digital media and content industry.”