What drove South Korea’s record content exports in 2024?

South Korea’s cultural content industry posted record-high revenue and exports in 2024, with exports far exceeding imports to generate a sizable trade surplus, the government said Friday.

Revenue in the domestic content industry surpassed 157 trillion won ($109 billion) in 2024, while exports topped $14 billion, both marking all-time highs, according to a report by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The survey covered businesses in 11 sectors of the content industry: publishing, comics, music, film, gaming, animation, broadcasting, advertising, character merchandising, knowledge-based information and content solutions.

Total industry revenue reached 157.4 trillion won in 2024, up 2.1 percent from 154.2 trillion won the previous year, extending its growth trend.

By sector, broadcasting and video accounted for the largest share of revenue at 24.99 trillion won, or 15.9 percent of the total. The knowledge information sector followed with 24.7 trillion won (15.7 percent), publishing with 24.22 trillion won (15.4 percent) and gaming with 23.85 trillion won (15.2 percent), helping drive overall industry growth.

Exports posted even stronger gains. Content exports rose 5.5 percent on-year to a record $14.08 billion in 2024. Imports stood at $915.6 million, resulting in a trade surplus of $13.16 billion. Exports exceeded imports across all 11 sectors surveyed.

The gaming industry led the export surge, shipping $8.5 billion worth of products overseas, accounting for 60.4 percent of total content exports. The music industry recorded $1.8 billion in exports, while broadcasting and video reached $1.26 billion, contributing to the global expansion of South Korean content.

The number of companies and employees in the industry also increased. The number of content businesses rose 2.4 percent on-year to 120,875 in 2024, while total employment grew 3.4 percent to 688,121, reflecting the industry’s role in steady job creation, the report said.