South Korea’s Content Industry Exports Reach Record $14.075 Billion, Driven Mostly by Games

In 2024, South Korea’s content industry set new all-time highs in both exports and domestic revenue. Export values reached $14.07543 billion, while domestic revenue surpassed 157.421 trillion won.

According to the “2024 Content Industry Survey” released by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on the 27th, last year’s content industry exports increased by 5.5% compared to $13.3453 billion in the previous year. This figure, amounting to approximately 20.156 trillion won, represents a record improvement within just one year and underscores the ongoing expansion of Hallyu’s influence.

During the same period, imports for the content industry were only $915.56 million, resulting in a trade surplus of $13.15987 billion. Exports exceeded imports by more than 15 times, demonstrating the international competitiveness of K-content.

The growth in content industry exports was driven primarily by the gaming sector. Games accounted for 60.4% of total exports, totaling $8.5347 billion—the highest share among all industries. The music industry followed with $1.8145 billion, while the broadcasting and video industry recorded $1.25718 billion.

Domestic revenue in South Korea’s content industry grew from 154.10785 trillion won in 2023 to 157.421 trillion won in 2024, marking a 2.1% increase. By sector, the broadcasting and video industry held the largest share at 24.9943 trillion won (15.9% of the total), followed by the knowledge and information industry at 24.6991 trillion won (15.7%) and the publishing industry at 24.2238 trillion won (15.4%). This indicates balanced growth across various industry segments.

The number of businesses in the content industry rose to 128,750, an increase of 2.4% from the previous year, while the workforce grew to 688,121 people, showing a 3.4% rise. There is consistent growth across the industry, and since the employment growth rate exceeds that of business numbers, individual companies are also expanding in scale.