KOBACO and Viewer Media Foundation Present Work Reports
"Need to Identify New Promotion Projects and Restructure Existing Initiatives"
Kim Jongchul, Chairman of the Broadcasting, Media and Communications Committee, has called for work innovation at the Korea Broadcast Advertising Corporation (KOBACO) and the Korea Foundation for Media and Audience (Viewer Media Foundation).
On January 12, during his opening remarks at the government agency work report session held at the Gwacheon Government Complex, Chairman Kim stated, "Amid the global media war, traditional media and small-scale broadcasters are facing increasing financial difficulties." He added, "Media equipped with new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) are bringing innovation to people's daily lives, but at the same time, they are introducing new risks such as deepfakes and spam."
He continued, "This year, the Broadcasting, Media and Communications Committee plans to focus its efforts on building a safe and vibrant, people-centered broadcasting and media ecosystem," emphasizing, "This cannot be achieved without the solemn sense of duty and role of the two institutions that defend the frontlines of the media industry."
Min Youngsam, President of KOBACO, announced that this year the corporation will do its utmost to enhance the value of broadcast advertising and respond to the committee's deregulation policies to help resolve market difficulties. According to the 2024 media-specific advertising expenditure status, online advertising expenses increased to 59.0%, while broadcast advertising expenses fell below 20%, at 18.8%.
President Min stated, "In particular, advertising sales for small and medium-sized broadcasters have decreased by more than 60 billion won compared to 2021, and KOBACO has been recording net losses every year." He also stressed the urgent need to introduce a 'cross-media rep' system that would allow media representatives who handle broadcast advertising sales to also handle online and mobile advertising.
Chairman Kim pointed out, "The decline rate of KOBACO's broadcast advertising sales agency business is 29.3%, which is about 3 percentage points higher than the overall decline rate of broadcast advertising revenue (26.5%)." He added, "Considering that KOBACO represents relatively stable broadcasters such as KBS, MBC, and EBS, this is a particularly painful issue."
In response, President Min said, "To improve profitability, legislative activities to pioneer new markets and improve broadcast regulations must be prioritized." He added, "By 2030, management improvement is expected through measures such as saving labor costs by reducing staff, developing new businesses such as digital signage, and selling the KOBACO training center."
Meanwhile, on the same day, Choi Chulho, Chairman of the Viewer Media Foundation, another agency under the Broadcasting, Media and Communications Committee, reported on the schedule and concrete implementation plans for major policies such as expanding media education, increasing audience participation, and improving media access for people with disabilities.
Chairman Kim emphasized, "Now that the committee oversees all broadcasting affairs, including the promotion of broadcasting and media, I urge both institutions to actively identify new projects related to promotion." He also stressed the need to seek improvement measures, such as project restructuring, to ensure the most efficient use of this year's budget.
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