SEOUL, KOREA — The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) has been actively pushing ahead with various policies to foster the smart contents industry."To help promising contents companies stand on their own and build up a firm base for sustained growth, the ministry opened the smart contents center, a tailor-made support system by growth stage specialized for smart contents field, in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province," said Kab-soo Kim, director general of the Contents Policy Bureau, the MCST.  

In an interview with Korea IT Times, Kim said, "The smart contents center is building and operating a one-stop tailor-made support system to help domestic contents companies get all necessary services ranging from business start-up to attraction of overseas investment at a single place."

In case of start-up companies, they can get various supports on a space to move into, start-up consultation and networking service with existing developers and publishing companies.

"In case of small and medium-sized contents developers, they can also receive a variety of services related to a space to move into, business education, experts' mentoring and consulting services," he explained.

"Meanwhile, contents developers aiming at advancing into overseas markets can get such services concerning overseas marketing, local promotion, consultation on international contracts, overseas exhibitions and participation in investment explanatory meeting," said Kim.

At present, 46 preliminary start-up teams and 35 small and medium-sized contents developers have moved into the center. The center is now providing smart contents developers with a "beta test" service to verify stability and quality of contents and technologies to improve quality of contents.

"Along with this, MCST established the Korea Joint Hall at Techcruch Disrupt held in San Francisco, the United States, last September to back up eight Korean smart contents developers' advancement into the U.S. market," he said.

Director General Kim also said, "The ministry is moving to operate Korea Joint Hall and a business consultation room at Mobile World Congress(MWC) to be held in Barcelona, Spain in February next year in a bid to improve foreigners' recognition of Korean-made smart contents and expand Korean contents developers' business opportunities.

Method to activate next-generation contents industry

"Under the smart paradigm, under which constraints of time and space have been disappearing owing to development of information and communication technology, the barriers between industries have been gradually breaking down and convergence is spreading," said Kim.

Noting that convergence in the smart era is marching toward the stage of creating new value, beyond simple functional combination, he said, "Smart convergence will persistently spread in the future, along with spread of smart equipment, social network service (SNS) and IT convergence." 

Among the next-generation contents, which are expected to enjoy a high growth in the smart era, are smart contents and 3D contents, he noted, adding that smart contents refer to contents operating in such smart equipment as smartphone, smart TV and tablet PC in a form of application.

Commenting that the demand for smart contents is rapidly growing owing to fast spread of smart equipment, he said, "Smart content is a new growth engine industry with small-sized capital with a low entry barrier and ideas."

According to Korea Communication Commission, the number of smartphone users in Korea reached 30.03 million as of the end of August, 2012.

"As smart contents are being distributed based on an open market, regardless of domestic and foreign markets, Korean companies can use smart contents as a bridgehead to advance into overseas markets," he stressed.

However, most domestic contents developers are fragile in global competition because of small capital, poor language and marketing expenses, he pointed out.

"For instance, 80 percent of domestic smart contents developers have less than 1 billion won in capital and less than 40 employees. In case of overseas markets, 59 percent of developers are suffering from a deficit," he said.

Overseas interest in Korea's contents industry

Asked about overseas interest in Korea's contents industry, Kim said, "In the past, such Korean dramas as "Winter Sonata" and "Dae Jang Geum" boosted the Hallyu (Korean wave) fever centering on Japan, China and Southeast Asia. As the Korean dramas enjoyed high popularity in foreign countries, a great number of foreign tourists came to Korea to visit the popular drama locations and copy Hallyu stars' fashion.

"Recently, however, the popularity of K-Pop is leading the new Hallyu. For instance, the nation's exports of Korean POP culture soared to USD 180 million in 2011, a whopping rise of 121 percent from the previous year. In 2010, K-Pop videos scored 800 million views on YouTube from 229 countries in 2010.

"Moreover, K-Pop videos manufactured by Korea's top three music agencies _ SM, YG and JYP - scored a total of 2.3 billion views in 2011. In 2012, PSYs global hit music video for “Gangnam Style,” has so far scored more than 200 million views on YouTube," he explained.

Commenting that it indicates K-Pop has been rapidly spreading from young maniacs in the Asian region to a wide range of ages in Europe, the U.S. and Latin America, he said, "BBC of Britain recently appraised Hallyu as a national brand which can replace Samsung."

Kim continued to say, "CNBC of the U.S. cited K-Pop as a symbol representing Korea, along with mobile phone and information technology.  Meanwhile, the Financial Times of Britain reported that Korea is making a new national and economic leap through exports of culture."

Efforts to promote exports of contents

To promote exports of Korean-made contents and diversify their export markets, MCST established the Global Contents Center in 2011 to provide contents developers hoping to advance into overseas markets with a variety of services, including offering of local information, consultations on local laws and regulations and overseas marketing, and export consultation.

"In particular, we are keeping a close cooperation system with overseas offshoots of Korea Creative Contents Agency in the U.S., Britain, and Japan," he noted.

"Although K-Pop and Hallyu dramas are attracting keen interest from foreign countries, 70 percent of our contents are being shipped to the Asian region. Accordingly, we need to strengthen exports of Hallyu contents to the U.S., Europe and Latin America by extending proper supports, including offering of local information, to domestic contents exporters," said Kim.

Status of Korean contents exports

Online game accounted for 54 percent (USD 23.78 million) of the total contents exports in 2011, securing the biggest portion. It represented a 48 percent hike from 2010.

"For instance, 'Cross Fire,' an FPS game developed by SmileGate and supplied by Neowiz Games ranked second in the world in terms of online game exports in 2011, following the World of Warcraft," he said.

Korea's exports of characters, including "RoboCar Poli" and "A Hen into the Wild," achieved a 38 percent growth in 2011 from a year ago. The animation, "A Hen into the Wild," was shown at some 70 theaters in 17 cities in Italy.

"Besides, a variety of Hallyu contents, including K-Pop and dramas, are attracting high popularity in overseas markets, including France and Russia," Kim added.