Broadcasting business revenue fell 0.7 percent last year from a year earlier. Revenue declined for a second straight year following the first contraction in 2023.

The Broadcasting Media and Telecommunications Commission announced the results of the Broadcasting Industry Survey on Dec. 31, covering the domestic broadcasting industry in 2024. The survey is a state-approved statistical survey conducted annually since 2000, targeting broadcasting businesses.

South Korea's broadcasting market was worth 18.832 trillion won in revenue in 2024, down 0.7 percent from a year earlier. It marked the second straight year of decline following 2023.

By operator, revenue rose for internet protocol television (IPTV) providers and IPTV content providers (IPTV CP). Revenue fell for terrestrial broadcasters (including DMB), system operators (SO), relay operators (RO) and satellite broadcasters.

Broadcasting advertising revenue was tallied at 2.3073 trillion won, down 183.2 billion won, or 7.4 percent, from 2023. Advertising revenue continued to decline for most operators except SO, the survey showed.

Total revenue for terrestrial broadcasters fell 200.3 billion won, or 5.4 percent, from a year earlier to 3.5337 trillion won. Advertising revenue, which had been the largest revenue item over the past 10 years, fell sharply for a second straight year, down 23.3 percent and 9.9 percent, to 835.7 billion won. Television licence fee revenue fell 34.9 billion won, or 5.0 percent, reflecting the impact of the separate collection of TV licence fees implemented in July 2023.

Total revenue for pay-TV operators rose 3.3 billion won from a year earlier to 7.2361 trillion won, but the growth rate continued to slow and came in at 0.05 percent.

By platform, IPTV grew to 5.0783 trillion won, up 1.4 percent, helped by steady increases in subscription fees and home shopping channel carriage fees. SO, RO and satellite broadcasting, however, stood at 1.6835 trillion won, 474.2 billion won and 474.2 billion won, down 2.9 percent, 3.6 percent and 3.6 percent, respectively, due to declines in subscription fees and home shopping channel carriage fees.

Total revenue for programme providers (PP) rose 43.2 billion won, or 0.6 percent, from a year earlier to 7.1356 trillion won. PP excluding home shopping rose 117.2 billion won, or 3.3 percent, to 3.7187 trillion won. Despite higher programme supply revenue, weak advertising revenue led to a drop in total revenue.

Revenue for home shopping PP, including data home shopping, totalled 3.4168 trillion won, down 74.0 billion won, or 2.1 percent, from a year earlier.

TV home shopping revenue has continued to fall through the 2020s and was tallied at 2.6425 trillion won in 2024. Data home shopping revenue, meanwhile, came in at 774.3 billion won, up 1.6 percent, rebounding a year after turning to a decline in 2023.

Pay-TV subscribers stood at 36,320,000 terminals as of December 2024, holding nearly steady compared with 35,300,000 terminals a year earlier.

Broadcast programme production and purchasing costs totalled 4.0732 trillion won last year. Production costs were 3.0291 trillion won, up 7.2 percent, while purchasing costs were 1.0441 trillion won, down 9.0 percent.

Broadcast programme exports totalled $611.58 million last year. Terrestrial broadcasters accounted for $91.01 million, down 4.4 percent, PP for $294.75 million, up 3.1 percent, and IPTV CP for $225.82 million, down 21.1 percent.

Overseas online video service (OTT) operators accounted for the largest share of export counterparties at 71.3 percent. They were followed by overseas distributors (17.1 percent) and overseas broadcasters (6.6 percent). The top export destinations were Japan at 23.8 percent, the United States at 19.0 percent and Singapore at 5.2 percent.

The number of workers in the broadcasting industry fell 872, or 2.3 percent, from a year earlier to 37,427.