For all the excitement around Korean content, this year’s Busan Contents Market (BCM) opened, ran for three days and ambled to its Friday close with little drama, old deals reheated just for something to say, and a slew of the usual MoUs that may – or may not – ever come to anything beyond photographs in government reports. 

But, insiders say, do not be wholly fooled by low footfall on the exhibition floor. “There’s a lot going on behind closed doors,” old-hands said, talking about co-development and co-production in a market clearly being forced to find new commercial models. 

This was little consolation for BCM first timers, many of whom don’t have long-standing contacts or local acquisition connections and were hoping for more lively passing traffic willing to at least look at their catalogues. 

To be fair, BCM has never been a crazy crowded event. The big K-content broadcasters, studios and brands have always shown up with various booth sizes, eager not to let competitors appear bigger/better/stronger or, at the very least, present and they absent. 

This year – the event’s 19th – was no different. “Everyone always comes to BCM,” a key international buyer told ContentAsia. “Even if the market is small, they don’t want their competitors to be here and they aren’t”.  

And then there are the official political niceties; BCM’s 2025 chair was Busan mayor, Park Heong-joon, who spoke about 700 companies from 50 countries who had signed up this year, and the wonders of Busan as a creative centre and shooting location.

KBS Media, fresh off its triumph persuading someone else to collect its TV licence fee, was there with long-running half-hour daily drama "My Merry Marriage". MBC brought new prime-time Friday/Saturday fantasy action comedy "Oh My Ghost Clients". SBS promoted period drama "The Haunted Palace", which already has distribution on Netflix and Viu. And CJ ENM came with the 12-episode "Second Shot at Love", which has wide distribution on streaming platforms but is struggling with low single-digit (and dropping) ratings at home. 

The hall featured a strong stream of BCM first timers, including U.S.-based PBS Distribution, which already has a wide and loyal client base in Korea; All3Media International, which announced a Korean deal for "The Traitors" during MIPCOM last year; India’s Fametoonz, which is expanding beyond animation into film and drama and launched new brand Fame Relay Distribution at BCM; and a group of Iranian rights holders, including Soureh Cinema, which sells to Islamic platform Qalbox in Asia, and Ladybirdco’s Mohamad Hseampour, who is also advisor to Netfilma, which was behind Series Mania 2025 best director winner "At the End of the Night" for Ida Panahandeh.    

A few issues topped market conversations, led by the sorry state of Korean production, the domestic box-office slump, dire warnings about the film industry, and dismal outlook for most indie producers.

The potential saviour, in the midst of all this, is China, once an engine that drove Korean entertainment to unprecedented heights before politics sent it all crashing in 2016. In 2017, BCM organisers reported a 70% drop in Chinese attendance, attributed to the unofficial ban on Korean entertainment by Chinese authorities furious about Korea’s adoption of the U.S.-backed THAAD missile defence programme. Separately, the outsize influence of Korean entertainment on Chinese culture was said to be a concern. 

This year’s BCM sweet-talk was led by Hengdian World Studios, which exhibited at the market for the first time. Hengdian’s outreach is being seen as part of the new thaw in China-Korea relations. 

Hengdian World Studios’ execs said BCM was part of a global charm campaign for its sprawling facility featuring 600,000 square metres of studio space, 50 live-action sets, end-to-end service, financial incentives and dedicated facilities for vertical micro-drama formats.

In a world awash with billions of China-driven micro-dollars, Hengdian’s enthusiasm for vertical video was echoed across the market floor. 

At BCM for the first time ahead of its September 2025 launch, short-form platform, Sero, showcased its premium adaptations of Korean theatrical releases such as "Familyhood" into 9 x 90 sec vertical series. Sero’s chief strategy officer, Slevin Lee, says the platform is on track to offer 1,000 vertical series by launch. – By Janine Stein