SBA, SPP International Contents Market 2025: 'The Spread of K-Culture'

Nam Si-hyun • 2025.9.26. 17:03

The SPP International Contents Market 2025, hosted by the Seoul Business Agency (SBA), was held at the Westin Josun Seoul from September 24 to 26. First launched in 2001 as an animation market, Seoul Promotion Plan (SPP) marks its 25th edition this year. Over the past two decades, it has evolved into Korea’s largest comprehensive B2B content market. The 2025 event was held on a large scale, featuring participation from more than 500 content buyers and 1,000 content providers from both domestic and international markets.

Seoul Promotion Plan 2025 (SPP 2025) hosted by the Seoul Business Agency

SPP is a B2B (business-to-business) event featuring a wide range of programs, including: ▲ Business Consultations with global media platforms and investment firms; ▲ Contents Meet-Up sessions organized by content genre; ▲ A Networking Party themed around Seoul-based content; ▲ Conferences and Forums highlighting industry trends and success strategies; and ▲ SPP Night, where outstanding intellectual properties (IPs) from SPP 2025 are showcased.

On September 24, opening day, content meet-ups for IP pitching and business networking took place at Space Sophora, HiKR Ground, and The Sool Gallery in Jung and Jongno, Seoul. That evening, SPP Night brought together content buyers and suppliers with an interest in Seoul’s creative industries. On September 25, the second day, reporters visited the venue to explore opportunities for expanding K-content into global markets and strengthening its international presence.

Korea’s Content Industry Expands Globally using SPP as a Stepping Stone

The highlight of SPP is its dynamic meeting space, where domestic and international content service providers, promotion agencies, studios, and production companies come together. Through these exchanges, a wide range of Korean-made content reaches global audiences with the support of overseas buyers attending SPP. The Sep 25 schedule opened with business consultations involving 1,086 companies from 29 countries worldwide. At the venue, one-on-one meetings were held between 511 domestic and international buyers and 575 content suppliers, including major global players such as Netflix, Disney, Warner Bros., Discovery, Tencent, and ReelShort.

We met with SPP participants Rosemond Perdue and Jess Khanom, co-founders of Rock and Rose Studios, to learn more about their purpose for attending the contents market.

"Rock and Rose Studios is a comprehensive IP company that handles global content including films, TV series, and animation," said Perdue. "Our current strategy is to bring Korean content not only to the rest of Asia, but to also target Eastern Europe, Australia, the U.K., and the Middle East," she explained.

Khanom continued stating, "my experience in international distribution at leading studios has given me deep insight into the U.K. and European markets. I’m in Korea to discover new titles that will appeal to my core clients."

While they plan on seeking deals at MIPCOM in France, ATF in Singapore, and TIFFCOM in Japan, they emphasized how SPP is the most expeditious content market. Perdue pointed out the difference, saying, "in Japan and Singapore, it takes a long time to meet with a contract manager. But with SPP, you can meet with someone in less than an hour. This is a crucial factor in today's rapidly changing market."

Only a few hours into their meetings, Perdue and Khanom met with webnovel company 'Gozknock', 'JTBC studio 'SLL', animation production company 'Toonimotion', and short-form-based webtoon production company 'One Minute Go'.

"People are very interested in discovering and pioneering new genres," Khanom said. "There are many short-form dramas in the industry, but I first learned about short-form webtoons through One Minute Go. After this, there will be a lot more Korean content to introduce to the world."

SPP has already produced tangible results. Since last year's event, Perdue has been working with Pit-A-Pat Studio to jointly plan, develop, and distribute content. Their collaboration got further this year, as they successfully signed a contract for a remake production (and distribution) in Turkey of two Canvas N dramas, a company managed by Pit-A-Pat Studio.

As an increasing number of companies visit SPP to explore K-content opportunities abroad, both domestic and international firms are signing MOUs and entering strategic collaborations. On the same day, Jaedam Media signed a content animation deal with ADN (Animation Digital Network), a French animation streaming platform and distributor.

Eunjung No, General Director of Jaedam Media, stated, “Using Jaedam Media’s original IP, ADN has decided to adapt the webtoon ‘Hero Killer’ — currently serialized on Naver and Line Webtoon — into an animated series. The action-packed, fantasy webtoon, centered on a hero, is seen as a perfect fit for animation.”

She continued, “Jaedam Media has previously connected the original webtoon 'Palace' to countries like Thailand, Mexico, and China through drama contracts. In China, the webtoon 'Standard Heroes' has been airing as an animation on Tencent since late last year. This is the first contract we’ve signed in France and Europe, and in the future, we aim to expand K-content across various countries with our diverse original IPs.”

Vivravo also signed an MOU with the French webtoon studio Flagcat, outlining joint production, distribution, and licensing of webtoon content. Chaewon Kim, the CEO of Vivravo, stated, “through our agreement, the French webtoon ‘Overprotective Butler’ was successfully distributed in the Korean market, while Vivravo's original IP, ‘Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary’ gained recognition as short-form animations in France.”

He continued, “this agreement has given me confidence that intellectual property rights can be revitalized through secondary content processing. I will focus on finding ways to commercialize content genre across various formats.”

An investment consultation and IR pitching day were held in Seoul to support small and medium-sized content companies seeking cooperation and investment opportunities, organized by the Seoul Economic Promotion Agency and the Seoul Content Investment Council. Twenty-three domestic investment firms with an interest in cultural content participated in the consultations, while 82 companies from sectors including OTT, virtual/augmented reality, animation, characters, webtoons, film, and gaming attended the event. Each investment firm received personalized one-on-one consultation through mutual matching, as well as opportunities for networking.

The IR Pitching Day that followed was attended by companies that have already received or are set to receive investment through the Seoul Content Investment Council after January 2025. The council already held an IR pitching day at the end of July, where five outstanding companies presented their pitches at the event.

The excellent companies included: ▲ Studio Meta K, a content production company that combines AI technology with original content IP; ▲ Hello Apollo, a character entertainment company that discovers new IPs and provides one-stop commercialization, covering everything from manufacturing and distribution to licensing; ▲ Super Play, which brings the IP of popular game brands, both domestic and international, to life in physical spaces; ▲ Play Legend, a company offering realistic sports experiences by integrating screens with actual sports; and ▲ Booster Lab, a digital-based platform that links ticket reservations with NFC and QR code technology.

According to the K-Contents Emergence: Analysis of Industrial Characteristics and Growth Factors report compiled by the Korea Development Institute in March of this year, Korea’s content industry exports reached $12.45 billion (approximately 17.45 trillion won) in 2021, marking it the highest amount recorded. The global competitiveness of Korean content has been strengthening, while its reliance on foreign markets continues to decrease. Due to the impact of COVID-19, the current market size is expected to be even larger than previously anticipated.

The global demand for K-content stems from the rapid growth of Korea’s content industry, as well as the ongoing efforts of domestic companies to expand their presence internationally. In this context, SPP has firmly established itself as Asia’s leading B2B content market, attracting content platforms and planners from around the world. It has become a hub for cooperation, extending beyond Asia to foster global partnerships.

Hyunwoo Kim, CEO of the Seoul Economic Promotion Agency, said, "SPP 2025 will be a solid bridgehead for K-content companies to enter the global market. I expect the status of Korean content to become more solid through this event." As CEO Kim Hyun-woo wishes, it is clear that the status of SPP will grow as the potential of K-contents grows.