‘KOCCA Ramps Up Support to Help Content Industry Secure Foothold in Global Market’

President Cho Hyun-rae of Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), marking 100 days in office, speaks at a meeting with reporters at Tower 8 in Gwanghwamun, Seoul, on Dec. 11. (Photos: KOCCA)

President Cho Hyun-rae of Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) said, “As the OTT Market like “Squid Game” is evolving fast, the content environment itself is changing fast, so I think KOCCA should go for the global market in a big picture format.”

KOCCA President Cho, 100 days in office, made the remarks at a meeting with reporters at Tower 8 in Gwanghwamun, Seoul, on Dec. 15.

He unveiled KOCCA’s future plans during the meeting. “We expect to make opportunities for investors and the industry to meet and exchange, and if they sympathize with each other, we hope investments will be made in a smoother way,” he said.

To this end, President Cho said an independent finance department will be created in the latest reorganization.

“KOCCA sees that such meetings and exchange between investors and content industry will not bear fruits immediately,” he said.

“Even if KOCCA is not evaluated properly, we find it not easy to push for it, but we have to do it with our own governance,” Cho said.

KOCCA plans to make efforts to strengthen the competitiveness of K-content intellectual property and reinvigorate their distribution while continuing efforts to overcome the hardships, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

First, KOCCA has raised 2,948 million won in a new project to raise the competitiveness of K-content intellectual properties next year. This is designed to explore young writers and new original IPs at contests.

Online and off-line IP business matching and commercialization contracts, such as “storyum” and content IP commercialization negotiation sessions are on the rise, so KOCCA has increased 1 billion won next year than this year to expand additional support.

The agency has raised by 1,948 million won in a budget to hold an IP exhibition, the nation’s first such expo designed to facilitate the global distribution of IP.

KOCCA plans to form a separate task force designed to explore and manage super IPs, the core of the content industry.

The step is designed to promote the integrated management of the content IPs to correspond trends of the industry whose genre barriers are breaking down.

KOCCA also plans to nurture content businesses based on new technologies, regional content items, the game industry, manpower, and music and other popular culture.

Monstar X, a K-pop boy group, performs at KOCCA’s music studio “input,” which was opened on Dec. 7.

The agency has set its total budget for 2022 at 547.7 billion won, up 5.1 percent over the previous year.

KOCCA has secured 6.7 billion won as a budget to support the production of metaverse content for next year to implement a metaverse business utilizing fashion, game, animation and other genres.

The agency has secured 10.5 billion won in a new budget to support publication and marketing for overseas market entry of K-content.

KOCCA plans to ramp up the content export marketing platform WelCon’s function as an online B2B marketplace starting January 2022.

KOCCA has secured 22.8 billion won to implement a project to support manpower in the popular music performance sector in a supplementary budget designed to overcome a crisis, caused by the pandemic while implementing a new project to nurture manpower specializing in exporting K-content.

KOCCA plans to announce its ESG vision designed to define its mission of supporting the sustainable growth of the content industry and the ESG management plan, encompassing 10 core strategic tasks, President Cho said.