Korea's content exports rose 5.9% and sales grew 2.6% last year, riding the K-culture boom.
Domestic content industry sales increased 2.6% from a year earlier to 161.48 trillion won ($112 billion), according to the "2025 Fourth-Quarter and Annual Content Industry Trend Analysis Report" released by the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) on Tuesday. By genre, music (15.8%), knowledge information (7.8%), comics (7.4%) and animation (6.8%) led industry growth. The report comprehensively analyzed 11 content genres based on company surveys, listed company management data and industry-specific baseline statistics.
In the music industry, major agencies expanded sales and the concert market showed a recovery. In the comics industry, webtoon-driven demand expansion and improved corporate earnings drove growth. The animation industry also posted gains on strong theatrical performance and improved earnings. On the other hand, advertising (-1.7%), broadcasting (-1.3%) and publishing (-1.2%) saw slight declines due to the economic slowdown and shifts in the advertising market.
Content industry exports during the same period totaled $14.91 billion, up 5.9% from the previous year. Music (32.4%), film (19.9%) and character (12.8%) industries led exports. The music industry posted high growth rates on the back of expanded overseas concerts and the global expansion of K-pop artists. The film industry benefited from strong performances of highly anticipated titles, while the character industry was supported by growing overseas demand for Korean characters. In contrast, content solutions (-10.3%), animation (-7.6%) and publishing (-3.1%) posted declines amid an overseas market slowdown.
