Dynamic Changes in the Media Market: Fast Moving Targets in Korea Jang-Sun Hwang, Ph.D.

Visiting Scholar School of Journalism & Mass Communication, UNC-

Chapel HillFeb. 15, 2012

A Recent ImpactThe Most Expensive Ad

in the World

Your Knowledge about S.KOREA

Your Knowledge about S.KOREA

Media in S.KOREA?• Any Network TV?• Cable TV?• National or Local Newspa-

pers?• Internet? Slow?• Mobile Devices?• Satellite TV?

Structure of Media Market: From the POV of Advertising Total Volume:

$ 8.2 billion

Recent Changes in the Mar-ket

$ million

Broadcasting• 3 Major Networks (59%)• 5 MSO Cable Networks (32%)

Broadcasting• Network TVs (KBS, MBC, SBS)

– Almost the Whole Nation– 60% of Revenue: Ads– Most contents are delivered through-

out the whole nation• Cable TVs

– 90% of Households Subscribed– 60% of Revenue: Subscription– Ads: 5.8%

• Penetration rate of Digital TV Set: 70%

National Newspapers

# of Newspapers by TypesRevenue of Newspapers

Newspapers• National Newspapers’ Dominance

– Top 3 takes 26.4% of the industry & 64.5% of national daily newspaper market

– Their social Influences are huge• Decreasing in Revenue

– Short-cuts of Ad (63% of the revenue)– Ad-rate maintained same for a decade– Readers’ transferring to Digital media

• New Opportunity– Generic Cable Channel Business (Major

NPs)

Digital Media• One of the Top ‘Internet’ Countries

– Penetration of Broadband: Top 5 (17.8 million subscribers)

– Ownership of Digital TV: 70%

• ‘Mobile’ Nation– Mobile Phone: 52 million (50% - Smart

phones) / Major manufacturers– 51% of UV in major portal sites: with

hand-held devices– IPTV: 5 million households

Digital Media

Digital Media• Korean version of Facebook: Cy-

World– Since 1999, the social network

service has penetrated the na-tion.

– 25 million subscribers (50% of pop.)

• Personal media (e.g., Facebook) made large traffics– Facebook 4 mil., Twitter 3.2

mil., Me-today 5 mil.

To Wrap Up• Most media markets are

oligopolistic structured.– 3 TV Networks – 3 Nat’l Daily NP– 5 Cable MSO – 3 Major Portal Svc. – 3 Mobile SP / IPTV SP

Current Issues & Advances• Major portal service market

– Native brands’ success– Moving to mobile market

• New Competition in the TV Market– IPTV, Digital TV , Smart TV, Cable TV

• The Impact of SNS– Mobile Fever with Collectivistic Culture

Current Issues & Advances• General-genre cable channel’s impacts

– Competition with Network TVs & Cable PP

• The Year of Elections– Social Impacts of SNS and other new media

• Media Rep. for ad buying changes– Multiple Cross-media reps will emerge in the

market.– Increase of TV ad rate and downfalls of minor

media or vehicles.

Thanks for your atten-tion.