TikTok will invest more than $50 million in South Korea’s content ecosystem this year. It also plans to support the spread of South Korea-origin content by expanding creator compensation and strengthening cooperation with professional content partners.

TikTok announced the plan on April 2 at the "K-Impact Summit 2026" at the Eliena Hotel in Seoul’s Gangnam district.

Jaehoon Jung (정재훈), head of operations at TikTok Korea, said content consumption has shifted to a mobile-centric structure, and users have moved to a participatory model in which they discover, reinterpret and spread content. He said this change is especially pronounced in South Korea. He cited as the backdrop to the investment the market’s structural competitiveness, including professional content infrastructure, a fast-growing creator community and strong fandom, which he said is rare globally.

On the size of the investment, he said it was decided through joint efforts by South Korea and TikTok headquarters. He did not disclose last year’s investment amount, but said an investment of more than $50 million is significant by TikTok’s internal standards.

From April, double rewards for Korean-language content, incentives among the world’s highest levels

As its first creator support measure, TikTok has been running "Creator Reward Program: 2X" since April 1. The programme pays double the existing reward for content produced in Korean. Eligibility requirements are age 19 or older, at least 10,000 followers, at least 100,000 views over the past 30 days, and production of original content of at least 1 minute.

Kiwon Ko (고기원), head of emerging vertical and creator marketing at TikTok Korea, said South Korea is the only TikTok market worldwide that offers a programme providing double rewards for Korean-language content. He said similar programmes exist in other countries, but none provides rewards at double the level. He said the end date of the programme will be decided after reviewing reactions from creators and users.

Three additional programmes will start on May 1. The "Special Reward Program" pays up to triple rewards for producing content in specific categories. It currently applies to the TV and film category, and the sports category will be added from May. This programme also targets Korean-language content. When the special reward is added to the base double reward, sports content can receive up to 6 times the reward, though a cap applies.

The "Creator Growth Challenge" supports creators who were active on other platforms in settling into TikTok. It offers content insight training and benefits tied to follower growth. The "Creator Incubator Program" aims to develop creators with high growth potential into mega creators with at least 1 million followers. It offers one-on-one consulting and content strategy support, as well as opportunities to connect with TikTok’s advertising sales team.

Broad cooperation with FIFA, SBS, KBO and K League to spread K-content

Cheol Yoon (윤철), head of news and sports at TikTok Korea, who is in charge of expanding cooperation with professional partners, announced plans spanning sports, news and entertainment.

In sports, TikTok will exclusively release behind-the-scenes content and livestream dedicated content for the 2026 North America World Cup that starts in June, as FIFA’s official preferred partner. In South Korea, it will continue to run official league content and fan participation programmes through cooperation with the KBO and the K League, and is supporting fandom expansion by connecting creators and leagues. Yoon said South Korea’s influence in sports can grow when athletes and creators create a wave of originality and the infrastructure of leagues and the platform amplifies it globally.

In news, TikTok will expand cooperation with media outlets through partner workshops, joint campaigns, anchor link integration and API connections. YTN has already completed an API integration and is operating it.

In entertainment, TikTok will continue cooperation based on its existing spotlight partnership with SBS. A global campaign for "Taxi Driver 3" carried out through the cooperation last year recorded 2.1 billion views, of which 41 percent came from overseas.

TikTok’s strategy this year focuses on growing creators and professional partners together to strengthen the spread of South Korea-origin content. It aims to build South Korea into the epicentre of a global content wave through a structure in which creators make new trends and media, sports and entertainment partners spread them to a broader user base.

Jung said South Korea is not just a major market but the strongest starting point where global trends are born. He said TikTok decided on the investment with confidence that the next wave created by creators and content partners together begins in South Korea.