Revenue for 371 broadcasters, including terrestrial and cable operators, has declined for three consecutive years.
On June 19, the Broadcasting Media Communications Commission (BMCC) held its 19th written meeting and announced the financial status of broadcasters for the 2025 fiscal year, which includes terrestrial, cable, and program providers.
Last year, the total revenue for these 371 broadcasters was reported at 18.6495 trillion won, a decrease of 0.8% compared to the previous year. This decline was observed across terrestrial, cable, satellite, and program providers.
Specifically, terrestrial revenue fell by 2.146 trillion won to 3.3162 trillion won, while program providers saw a drop of 1.664 trillion won to 6.9417 trillion won. Cable operators experienced a decrease of 436 billion won to 1.6399 trillion won, and satellite broadcasters reported a decline of 272 billion won to 447 billion won.
In contrast, revenue for Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) operators showed a slight increase. IPTV revenue rose by 4.9 billion won to 5.0832 trillion won, and revenue for content providers increased by 229.1 billion won to 1.2184 trillion won.
The broadcasting advertising market also faced contraction, with advertising revenue dropping to 2.0134 trillion won, a 12.3% decrease from the previous year. Terrestrial advertising revenue fell by 17% to 693.6 billion won, while program providers saw a 9.6% decline to 1.1331 trillion won. IPTV advertising revenue decreased by 18.8% to 53 billion won, satellite broadcasters experienced a 30.2% drop to 18.3 billion won, and cable operators reported a 2.6% decrease to 112 billion won.
Notably, while the mobile advertising market has grown at an average annual rate of 7.5% from 2021 to 2025, broadcasting advertising revenue has decreased at an average annual rate of 10.6%, indicating a worsening market contraction.
Overall operating profit for broadcasters was reported at 3.1718 trillion won, a 44.2% increase from 2024. The BMCC attributed this rise to a base effect from a temporary decline in operating profit due to one-time labor costs in IPTV in 2024.
Terrestrial broadcasters, however, have faced operating losses for three consecutive years. Last year, terrestrial operating losses amounted to 1.174 trillion won, an increase of 329 billion won compared to the previous year. Operating profit for content providers decreased by 23.3% to 584 billion won, while satellite broadcasters saw a 7.8% decline to 378 billion won.
Program production costs also generally slowed down. Last year, total program production costs for all broadcasters were reported at 5.7546 trillion won, a 0.1% decrease from the previous year.
Additionally, during the 19th written meeting, the BMCC agreed to appoint one permanent and two non-permanent members to the 4th Telecommunications Dispute Mediation Committee. As the grace period for the regulation on the programming ratio for pure outsourcing applied to regional MBC and local broadcasters ends on June 30, the commission approved a partial amendment to the 'Notice on Programming of Broadcasting Programs' to extend the grace period by two years.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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