Cultural exports jump 9.1 pct in 2018, led by games, character IP

Entertainment 10:07 May 19, 2020

SEOUL, May 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's exports of cultural goods jumped nearly 10 percent on-year in 2018, led by games and character intellectual property (IP), a government survey showed Tuesday.

The combined overseas sales in 11 culture and entertainment sectors reached about US$9.62 billion, up 9.1 percent from 2017, according to the annual content industry statistics published by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The figure compares with the country's overall export growth of 5.4 percent that year.

The industries surveyed included movies, broadcasting, publishing, music, games, cartoons, animation, advertising, characters, knowledge information and content solutions.

By volume, the gaming sector was the largest cultural exporter with $6.4 billion, followed by character IP goods with $745 million. Shipments of knowledge information products came third with $633 million, followed by music with $564.23 million.

Broadcasting posted the biggest year-on-year expansion with 32 percent in 2018, followed by animation with 20.5 percent. Comics and character IP products grew 14.9 percent and 12.2 percent, respectively.

Imports of cultural goods were tallied at $1.22 billion, up 1.3 percent from the previous year. As a result, the trade balance in the sectors recorded a surplus of $8.4 billion.