The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Minister PARK Bo Gyoon, MCST), in collaboration with the Korea Creative Content Agency (President JO Hyun-rae, KOCCA) will host BroadCast WorldWide (BCWW) 2022, Asia’s largest broadcasting content market, at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) from Aug 31 (Wed) to Sept 2 (Fri). The event will be a venue to explore the sustainability of the global popularity of K-Wave and K-Contents with major global buyers and other participants from 38 countries in attendance.

Since its inception in 2001, BCWW has continued to grow each year in terms of sales volume, and today, it is arguably Asia’s largest broadcasting content market, bringing together representatives from domestic and foreign broadcast industries to share information. Although it was held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic last year, BCWW achieved a record performance of USD 35.02 million (about KRW 47 billion) in export agreements. Since it will be held as an on-site event for the first time in three years this year, it is expected to break the record given the high registration rates of various exhibitors and buyers.

Under the theme “Play the New Content, Dive into the BCWW,” the event will provide a range of B2B programs – showcases and buyer meetings (business market), business matching and pitching, and distribution channel meetings, as well as B2C programs – conferences, new release screenings, and New Media Content Awards, to expand the global business and networking opportunities for participants.

In particular, over 600 buyers from 31 countries, including 160 key international buyers, will attend BCWW and are expected to have constructive meetings with Korean content export companies. Representatives from the world’s leading broadcast companies and content platforms have registered for the event, including Amazon Prime, Warner Media, NBC Universal, Asia’s leading media group PCCW, and China’s largest video platform iQIYI.

In addition to Korea’s three terrestrial broadcasting companies, CJ E&M, and SLL, participating domestic companies will include AStory, the production studio behind Extraordinary Attorney Woo, a Korean TV series that has gained explosive popularity; Chorokbaem Media, the production studio for My Liberation Notes; and Sandbox Network, a leading multi-channel network company in Korea. In addition, a total of 168 companies from 17 countries will attend the event online and offline and present various contents.

Conferences will be held in nine sessions to discuss the latest global trends and development strategies of the broadcasting and video content industries in DDP’s Conference Hall from Aug 31 (Wed) to Sept 1 (Thur). The sessions will also be livestreamed online.

In the Special Session, Director YOO In Sik and Producer LEE Sang Baek of Extraordinary Attorney Woo, the series that has struck a chord with many viewers around the world and claimed the top position on Netflix’s viewership chart in both English and non-English speaking countries, will be invited to discuss the influence of K-Contents around the world and share their success story of a new content business model through acquiring IP.

In the session under the theme “K-Contents and the Korean Wave: Expanding the Cultural Horizons for World Citizens,” Content Business Lead Helena CHANG at HYBE will introduce the strategies of BTS and other artists for diversifying their overseas marketing activities using IP and discuss the new horizons of K-Wave. In addition, Vice President Adam STEINMAN for Creative Format Development and Sales at Warner Bros. International Television Production will discuss strategies to boost the success and appeal of K-Contents from a global perspective.

Various related events will also be held at the venue. New release screenings are scheduled for Aug 31 (Wed), where domestic and foreign buyers and exhibitors will be able to see new releases scheduled to be broadcast or sold overseas in the second half of this year. The various TV drama series and shows to be screened include the most anticipated works for the second half of the year – The Youngest Son of the Conglomerate, The Law Cafe, and Transit Love Season 2.

The ceremony for the New Media Content Awards will be held on Sept 2 (Fri) to recognize outstanding contents in the field of new media and the contributions of media service providers for the development of the industry and to award six prizes, including the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Prize. Pitching will include 11 webtoon and novel IP works to adapt them into films, and distribution channel meetings for these works will also be held. In collaboration with the French Embassy in Korea, for the first time this year, three French works will be presented to domestic and foreign broadcast producers. This will help strengthen exchanges in broadcasting between the two countries.

For more information about BCWW 2022 registration and the online viewing of the conferences, please visit the official website (www.bcww.kr).

An MCST official stated, “With the advent of the OTT era (streaming services), K-Wave and K-Contents have truly become mainstream around the world. I hope that BCWW will serve as a venue where the K-Contents craze will turn into income for related businesses,” stressing that “MCST will unwaveringly provide full-scale support for Korean broadcasting content companies to make inroads into overseas markets in an active manner.”