Animation exports up by 50% in first half of 2018

Korea’s exports of animation through content fairs jumped more than 50 percent in the first half of 2018 from a year ago to reach nearly $90 million, data showed Thursday.

The figure is a 55 percent jump from $56.6 million recorded in the same period last year.

The data compiled by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency (Kocca) showed that Korean animation companies have inked export deals worth $88 million in three global content markets - Kidscreen Summit, Mip TV and the China International Cartoon & Animation Festival.

This year, the total sum of deals signed at both Kidscreen Summit ($39 million) and Mip TV ($18 million) were larger. But the major contributor to the growth is the Chinese animation festival held in Hangzhou, which Korean content firms didn’t attend last year due to a diplomatic row over the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system in Korea.

This year, Korean companies secured deals worth approximately $31 million at the event.

By region, Europe was the biggest export destination with 38 percent, followed by North America and Central America each with 20 percent.

Kocca said the mood for cultural exchange between Korea and China has softened markedly in the April animation festival, where some 20 Korean companies were part of the signing of deals on distribution and broadcast rights (70 percent) and co-production (18 percent).

Yonhap