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Online forum “Talking about Contents after COVID-19”
  • October 07, 2020

Online forum “Talking about Contents after COVID-19”

The online forum “Talking about Contents after COVID-19” took place on July 21 under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism (“culture and sports ministry”) and the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA). The forum, which was intended to predict the post-COVID-19 content industry and find the desirable policy direction, was held by being divided into two sessions: presentations and comprehensive discussions. We went to the scene where professionals from various content segments, including platform, performance, game, webtoon, broadcasting, music, etc., were exchanging opinions about the future of the content industry.
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Online forum Talking about “contents” after COVID-19
#it’sokaydespitecoronavirus #crisis #change #chance #contactless #newnormal #contentdoesn’tsetin
2020.7.21.(Tuesday) 14:00~16:30
Live coverage by KCCA’s official YouTube channel
(www.youtube.com/user/KoreanContent)

Part 1: Presentations and content industry briefing forum

Part 1 began with a presentation titled “Opportunities and challenges of the content industry after COVID-19” by Lee Yang-hwan, director of the policy division at KOCCA. “The coronavirus situation is causing the worst recession ever since the Great Depression, and the critical phase is underway while its impact is in full swing throughout the economy,” Lee said. The data he suggested also showed that sales of the content industry would pick up slightly as of the end of June, but the economy is showing a downward curve continuously. If this trend persists through the end of the year, sales would record negative growth, and exports and employment would also decline. Speaking about the expansion of policy loans, support for realistic contents, and push for the new Korean wave as the three innovative strategies of the content industry, Lee cited the need to improve the tax system in such a way as to reflect the characteristics of the content industry, shying away from manufacturing and IT-centered support, and create a fair distribution environment to rectify profit distribution and unreasonable contractual practices and expand R&D. Touching on the Korean New Deal, he also stressed the need to secure economic dynamism and sustainability through the acceleration of the digital economy and low-carbon green growth, raise economic resilience by strengthening the social safety net of employment, and realize people-first values through all-embracing investments in humans. “The content industry affects people’s quality of life and the national image greatly, aside from being our future growth engine, and stands at the crossroads of improving its industrial quality,” Lee said in conclusion.

Director Kim Hyeon-su of CJ ENM followed with a business briefing. Under the theme “globalization of K-lifestyle,” Kim spoke about the success factors of “2020 K:CONTACT” like the lifestyle collaboration of K-pop artists and influencers and online fan meetings using digital content and AR techniques and concluded that “the future of KCON lies in contactless.”

In his business briefing, the last program of Part 1, Manager Kim Yong-u of Google Korea exemplified “Dalgona Coffee” and suggested that “the principal agent of distribution and consumption is contents.”

Part 2: comprehensive discussions

Part 2, comprehensive discussions, took place soon after. The debate, emceed by Prof. Bae Jin-a of the department of imaging at Kongju National University, was attended by Director Kim Hyeon-su of CJ ENM, Manager Kim Yong-u of Google Korea, Director Nam Yeong-seon of PUBG, Chief PD Seo Hyeon-cheol of Lezhin Entertainment, Team Leader Im Seok-bong of JTBC, and Department Head Jo Dong-chun of SM Entertainment, who talked with Lee Hae-don, head of the culture and sports ministry’s division of culture and industry policy, and KOCCA’s Lee Yang-hwan on the various solutions and prospects related to the COVID-19 health crisis.

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Prof. Bae Jin-a• What are changes in content consumption and production environment caused by COVID-9?
Team leader Im Seok-bong• Affected by social distancing, the public’s TV viewing has increased a lot as more people stayed at home. The biggest change is the flow of teenage viewers. As daytime viewing ratings soared, the TV primetime also changed from evening to daytime.
Department head Jo Dong-chun• In case of music, the two online and offline business models are expected to be compatible. Just as the music industry shifted from physical album-centric to digital sound source-centric in the early 2000s, contactless performances caused by COVID-19 will change the structure of the music industry once again.
Prof. Bae Jin-a• What opportunities will the new orders to be featured after COVID-19 offer to the content industry? What kind of new business strategies will be featured through this?
Director Nam Yeong-seon• In fact, the game industry already underwent digital transformation with the onset of online games in the late 1990s and early 2000s. I think the game industry was ready for the contactless era to a certain extent through the remote production of games using cloud. The fact that both production environment and consumers are prepared for the contactless era is seen as an opportunity itself. The expansion of markets as seen from the flow of non-gamers and new consumer groups that have not consumed game contents seems to be another opportunity brought about by the contactless era.
Manager Kim Yong-u• If we have focused on contents so far, it will be necessary to focus on diffusion from now on. I think Korea will be able to take the lead in the world’s content market in the new age if we can map out strategies considering the diffusion from the production stage.
Chief PD Seo Hyeon-cheol• It seems that, as people have more time to enjoy contents after COVID-19, creators draw interest naturally. I began to think that producers and finished contents are contents, too.
Prof. Bae Jin-a• At this moment when the content industry is ready to take off anew in the face of changes, what would be the stumbling blocks to be solved?
Department head Jo Dong-chun• Though our distribution structure is revamped innovatively, we wonder if our legal system and regulations are keeping pace . It is also necessary to think a lot about systems that can protect intellectual property rights arising due to changes in the industrial structure.
Team leader Im Seok-bong• Lots of broadcasting contents have been consumed, but COVID-19 and changing labor practices have resulted in a constant rise in production costs. Unless this problem is addressed in the domestic market, we have to go abroad; but that is not easy because of COVID-19. So support measures are needed to solve this.
Chief PD Seo Hyeon-cheol• As webtoon has been industrialized more recently, there is a relatively serious lack of institutional safeguards. It is vulnerable to illegal leaks, so the more it is spotlighted, the bigger its damages are. As seen from the problem of institutions governing webtoon centered on printed comics instead of being recognized as independent contents, related regulations are still formed, revolving around offline, and they contradict the realities of webtoon.
Director Nam Yeong-seon• The weight of foreign game contents is very great in Korea. Because the domestic market is already saturated, it’s important to devise support policies encouraging developing companies to produce game contents targeting global consumers. The doorsill of the global market is too high for small and medium-sized developing companies. Although it’s an open platform, and everyone can register games, they have a lot to fear since they are weak psychologically and empirically. Support policies for small and medium-sized developing companies and investment for them through venture capital may be necessary.
Director Kim Hyeon-su• It is necessary to introduce an R&D concept specific to the cultural industry and come up with support systems for this, deviating from the existing manufacturing-centered formula. Moreover, the government’s support and cooperation for the investment promotion of content funds are needed.
Division head Lee Hae-don• COVID-19 served as an occasion to accelerate industrial environment changes, but aside from that, digitization or coming online and globalization are surely unavoidable changes facing the content industry. We are preparing to amend laws so that illegal distribution is blocked and intellectual property rights are protected properly in keeping with the contactless era. We also continue our discussions to help workers of the content industry gain more when it comes to the tax system befitting manufacturing and IT. We will strive to hear more in various fields and genres, explain policies and systems more concretely and accurately, and collect feedback in many places elsewhere.
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