1 of 2 | Key findings from South Korea’s 2024 broadcasting industry survey. Graphic by Asia Today and translated by UPI
Dec. 31 (Asia Today) — South Korea’s broadcasting industry remained in a slump last year, with total revenue declining for a second consecutive year as terrestrial broadcasters posted steep drops in advertising income, regulators said Wednesday.
The Korea Communications Commission said total broadcasting industry revenue in 2024 fell 0.7% from 2023 to 18.832 trillion won (about $14.5 billion) in its “2024 Survey on the Status of the Domestic Broadcasting Industry.” The market first turned negative in 2023 after expanding every year since 2003, the commission said.
Terrestrial broadcasters, including digital multimedia broadcasting, recorded the largest decline by category, with revenue falling 5.4% to 3.5337 trillion won (about $2.7 billion), the commission said. The drop was driven by weaker advertising, historically the biggest income source for terrestrial channels.
Terrestrial advertising revenue declined 9.9% to 835.7 billion won (about $640 million) in 2024 after plunging 23.3% in 2023, according to the survey. Advertising accounted for 23.7% of terrestrial broadcast revenue in 2024, down from 47.4% in 2014, it said.
Cable television operators and satellite broadcasters also posted declines, with revenue down 2.9% and 3.6%, respectively, as subscription fees and home shopping carriage fees weakened, the commission said.
Total revenue for pay-TV operators, including cable and internet protocol television, edged up to 7.2361 trillion won (about $5.6 billion), but growth remained near flat, the survey said. IPTV was the main driver, with revenue rising 1.4% to 5.0783 trillion won (about $3.9 billion), the commission said, citing steady increases in subscription fees and home shopping transmission fees.
Home shopping program providers posted revenue of 3.4168 trillion won (about $2.6 billion), down 2.1% from the previous year, the commission said. TV home shopping sales continued to slide, while data-based home shopping sales rose 1.6% to 774.3 billion won (about $595 million), reversing a decline the year before.
Employment in the broadcasting industry also fell, the survey said, with the number of workers declining to 37,427 in 2024 from 38,299 in 2023. Terrestrial broadcasters recorded the sharpest employment drop, down 4.5%.
— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI
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