Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) is holding an online event titled “E-Korean TV Content Market” to sell and promote Korean TV shows in Middle Eastern countries, in an effort for Korean content to reach a wider audience.
The state-run agency has been running the online market from Monday until Wednesday, along with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. It has also been offering support for local broadcasters and other media companies to help strategically target the Middle Eastern market.
“About 90 percent of the local broadcasting content industry’s overseas sales are directed to the Americas and Asia. So the Middle East has been garnering interest as a potential emerging market,” the agency said in the statement.
In response to the local industry’s growing interest in the Middle Eastern market, the agency also held a webinar titled “Buying Habits in MENA,” Tuesday, through its YouTube channel.
The webinar invited executives from broadcasting and other media companies from Middle Eastern countries, including Ashley Rite, the director of Kids and Family content at UAE’s network OSN, and Zeina El-Tal, head of marketing and distribution at Jordan’s streaming service Roya TV.
“This online content market will be the opportunity for the Korean content industry to overcome the COVID-19 crisis and break through to the content market in the Middle East,” said Jung Kyung-mi, the acting president of the agency. “With this market as a start, we will be holding another event targeting the market in India, and will continue to look for ways to reach more diverse regions to export local broadcasting content.”
The agency held events earlier this month to help local networks and production companies prepare for this week’s online market.
A webinar titled “Best of Korean Content” was held on June 2 and a showcase was on June 9, for companies to present their recent shows and dramas to potential buyers in the region. JTBC Studio introduced its latest award-winning series “Beyond Evil” and thriller series “Undercover,” SBS Contents Hub showcased its hit series “The Penthouse: War in Life,” and CJ ENM introduced fantasy romance series “Doom at Your Service.”
The agency noted that SBS Contents Hub has been in talks through the market to remake its hit series “The Penthouse: War in Life” with Turkey’s Calinos Entertainment.
KOCCA also offered a one-on-one online consulting session on June 3 for local networks to build strategies to target the industry in the Middle Eastern region. Four experts in related fields were invited as consultants, including Amanda Turnbull, former vice president of Discovery Middle East & Africa.
Source: Written by Lee Gyu-lee, The Korea Times