[Reporter’s Notebook] Who Is Next After JTBC?

A Collapsing Broadcast Advertising Market Presents Its Bill
Government Stood By for a Decade Amid Rapid Market Shifts

JoongAng Group overreached. Relying on a shrinking broadcast advertising market, the company poured astronomical production costs into its operations. It even sold off future revenue sources such as intellectual property (IP). In the end, it was unable to cover 20.6 billion won in securitized debt, forcing it to turn to the courts. If this were the end of the story, it would just be recorded as the failure of a single company. However, this incident exposes the crisis facing the entire South Korean broadcasting industry.

JTBC started running deficits in 2019 and has failed to pull itself out of this downward spiral for seven consecutive years. Some point to the departure of certain advertisers or political variables as causes, but the root of the problem lies elsewhere. The year 2019 marked the beginning of structural instability in Korea’s broadcast advertising market, and the decline has only accelerated since then.

The size of the broadcast advertising market shrank by 5% year-on-year to 3.2191 trillion won in 2024. It is estimated to have decreased to around 2.7744 trillion won last year as well. In contrast, the online advertising market is forecast to have grown by 7.9% to 10.1011 trillion won in 2024, and expanded further to 10.7204 trillion won last year.

Advertising spending has shifted from TV to digital, and it shows no sign of returning. Han Minsoo, a member of the National Assembly Committee on Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications, recently pointed out, “Broadcast advertising spending has been declining for ten consecutive years, rapidly weakening the industry's foundation.” Kang Shinkyu, Chief Research Fellow at Korea Broadcast Advertising Corporation, also stressed the need to relax advertising regulations step by step in order to attract new sponsors. This means it is not simply JTBC's problem—the entire industry structure is shaking.

Broadcasting companies have each sought their own survival strategies. They filled their programming with relatively inexpensive shows, such as trot audition programs, reality shows, and senior-oriented variety shows. While these short-term measures were effective to some extent, their limitations were clear. Cost-cutting alone cannot offset the challenges in an ever-shrinking advertising market.

Meanwhile, YouTube and Netflix quickly absorbed viewers and advertisers. As Korean broadcasters dealt with regulatory burdens such as total advertising volume caps, restrictions on mid-program advertisements, and reviews of product placements (PPL), global platforms aggressively expanded their share without facing such limitations. The government neglected this structural shift for a long time.

Recently, the Korea Communications Commission announced plans to expand the overall cap on broadcast advertising and relax standards for mid-program advertisements. However, the reason advertisers avoid TV is not simply a lack of advertising time. Without fundamental changes—such as innovations in how advertisements are integrated into programs and the development of new advertising products connecting with YouTube and OTT platforms—the crisis will inevitably recur.

It would be a serious misjudgment for other broadcasters to view this crisis as someone else’s problem. Trot auditions and low-cost variety programs may slow the market’s decline, but they cannot stop it. The broadcast advertising market will continue to contract, while global platforms will attract even more viewers and advertisers. The question to ask now is not “Why did JoongAng Group collapse?” but “Who is next, and what needs to change?”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.