The global entertainment and media (E&M) market is projected to grow at 3.4% annually to reach $4.2 trillion by 2030, according to Samil PwC's Global Entertainment and Media Outlook report.
Korea's E&M market is forecast to grow at 3.0% annually over the same period, establishing it as the world's ninth-largest market by 2030.
That trails the global average of 3.4% — a notable projection at a moment when Korean content exports dominate the international conversation. Market size growth and industry competitiveness do not necessarily move together.
The report assesses that Korea faces rapid structural change driven by AI and data, retail media, ad-supported pricing tiers, and OTT competition.
Of the $4.2 trillion total, advertising represents roughly $1.4 trillion — about a third of the entire market.
The report identifies two primary growth engines:
Both share a structural characteristic: they push advertising back into media consumption that had moved away from it. That aligns with rising subscription fatigue and price resistance making consumers more willing to tolerate ads — a shift covered in Consumers Are Warming to Ads: 69% Would Choose Ads to Save Money.
The report names two determinants of future competitiveness:
The word doing the work is "monetise." Owning IP and earning from it are different problems, and the report makes the second an explicit condition rather than an assumed consequence.
The character of available inventory is changing. If ad-supported OTT and retail media are the growth engines, the inventory expanding fastest is mid-viewing exposure and point-of-purchase exposure. Two fundamentally different placements growing simultaneously means the media mix has to split accordingly.
Formalise retail media as a media line item. In many organisations retail media still sits inside the commerce team's trade promotion budget. Named as a market growth engine, it needs to be evaluated against other channels inside the media plan.
Use Korea's 3.0% figure to calibrate expectations. A market growing at 3% a year means growth largely requires taking share. Competitive displacement strategy outweighs category expansion.
Design the IP monetisation path in advance. The capability to create content and the structure that turns it into recurring revenue are separate builds. For how streaming platforms are now colliding across creators, advertising and TV, see Netflix vs YouTube: The Streaming Rivalry Now Collides Head-On.
Samil PwC projects 3.4% average annual growth to $4.2 trillion by 2030.
Growth of 3.0% annually over the same period, making it the ninth-largest market globally by 2030, with rapid structural change from AI and data, retail media, ad-supported tiers and OTT competition.
Roughly $1.4 trillion, about a third of the total market. The report identifies ad-supported OTT and retail media as the main growth engines.
Data and AI capability, plus securing differentiated IP and the ability to monetise it — with monetisation named as an explicit condition rather than an assumed outcome.
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