South Korea's Broadcast Media and Communications Commission and the Korea Broadcast Advertising Corp (KOBACO) said on Thursday they will begin an application call for the 2026 broadcast advertising production support programme for small and medium-sized enterprises and small merchants to help them grow.

The programme will select 137 companies, including 23 SMEs and 114 small merchants. It will support broadcast ad production costs, airing costs and marketing consulting.

Selected "innovative SMEs" can receive support covering 50 percent of TV ad production costs, up to 45 million won, or 70 percent of radio ad production costs, up to 3 million won. This year, six additional eligibility categories were added, including firms certified in artificial intelligence (AI) and youth-job small giants, lowering the threshold for support.

Small merchants can receive up to 9 million won within a range of 90 percent of broadcast ad production and airing costs. To revitalise regional economies, it plans to give priority selection to 83 small merchants based outside the capital region.

The application period runs until next month on Feb. 23 for SMEs and Feb. 24 for small merchants. Applications can be submitted online through KOBACO's "SME Broadcast Advertising Support" website.

An official at the commission said, "We hope this programme will help SMEs and small merchants actively enter the broadcast advertising market and raise company awareness, leading to a tangible increase in sales."