The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Minister PARK Bo Gyoon, MCST) and the Korea Creative Content Agency (President JO Hyun-Rae, KOCCA) hosted an expert forum on June 29 entitled “K-Content and OTT Promotion Forum to Build a Culturally Attractive Nation,” which was held at the KOCCA Content Korea Lab in Seoul with industry experts and academic leaders in attendance.   

The over-the-top (OTT) streaming market, which boasted exponential growth under COVID-19 lockdowns and social restrictions, is now facing changes and challenges as users have more opportunities to enjoy a broader scope of leisure activities in the post-COVID era. In an attempt to reduce the risks associated with entering an overseas market and secure globally popular K-content at the same time, global OTT service providers are forging strategic alliances with Korean content companies to make inroads into the Korean market. Amid increasingly fierce global competition, expanding investment in content has never been so important in terms of securing a competitive advantage.

Against this backdrop, the forum featured a diagnosis of changes in the industry as well as various proposals and discussions on the theme of “How to develop OTT and K-content in the post-COVID world.” The event began with opening remarks by the 1^st Vice Minister of MCST JEON Byung Geuk, followed by a presentation from JTBC General Manager LIM Seok Bong, the author of Next Netflix, entitled “Analysis of the Industry’s Content Strategies in Response to Changes in the Online Streaming Service Market Environment.” Professor LEE Sung Min of Media Arts and Sciences at Korea National Open University also shed light on the “Importance of Content IP in the OTT Environment,” and KOCCA General Director SONG Jin presented on the “Direction of Nurturing the Content-Oriented OTT Industry.”The presentations were followed by a discussion presided over by Professor MOON Chul Soo, Chair of the Korea OTT Forum, and joined by a number of panelists, including GOH Jung Seok, CEO of content producer Egg Is Coming that has created the TV series Hospital Playlist: Wise Doctor Life and reality show Three Meals a Day.

The Vice Minister JEON said, “As the Korean series Squid Game became a global phenomenon last year and drove the growth of Netflix, the driving force of OTT is ultimately the power of content. In this regard, to leverage K-content’s global competitiveness to foster the domestic OTT industry, MCST will implement tightly-knit policies to strengthen our content industry by supporting content creation and production, international market entry, talent cultivation, and content infrastructure-building.” He continued, “In addition, the ministry will push for institutional improvements, such as providing tax credits to encourage investment in OTT content and introducing an independent rating system for programs and movies distributed through OTT platforms.”