Researchers release first field study of individual media creators in Korea
  • 5 years ago
1인 크리에이터 첫 실태조사 발표… 그 의미는?

A growing number of Koreans are becoming Youtubers these days.
Some made headlines by becoming superstars that make big money.
As the content creation industry keeps growing, the first field study on such local media content creators was recently released.
Lee Min-sun help us look beyond the digits.
The first field study on online media creators was released earlier this month detailing average income, sources of income and level of satisfaction.
The Korea Labor Institute and the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute conducted a joint survey on 250 creators and found full time online media creators make an average of 4,400 U.S. dollars per month. Those who make online contents part time made an average of 2,700 dollars and hobbyists made 900 dollars a month.
However, the income gap is quite wide as some creators make over 40,000 dollars a month while some other full time creators made as little as 40 dollars a month.
Advertisements were the main source of income for all types of creators, followed by sponsorship and sales.
However, an expert warns people against becoming a full-time creator just because of the potential high income.
It's a fantasy to think success is guranteed creating online content. The actual study also shows a big difference in income. It's quite dangerous to become a full time creator unless you prepare thoroughly and have quite distinguishing content that no one else has done yet."
Though it's a growing new industry, the expert thinks it has lot of potential to become a stable job in the future due to changing perspectives about media and broadcasting.
"Especially among young people, YouTube is seen as broadcasting and they consume media online. So broadcasting content is introduced through various platforms beyond the traditional television set, giving a lot of room for this industry to grow."
However, the expert calls for more careful regulations as the online content could become violent or sexual to attract more viewers. The expert says for example, the current regulation that only punishes creators for breaking the law should be expanded to include platform providers as they should share profits and responsibility together.
Lee Min-sun Arirang News.
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