The vibrant Busan Contents Market has done exceeding well since its inauguration in 2007. Nobody then expected the second largest city of South Korea, Busan to take serious interest in the television and film industry, though the location has been the venue for several shoots by renowned producers. History has it that the event actually originated from another festival called ‘Digital Culture & Art Festival (DICAF)’ sponsored by the City of Busan way back in 2005 and was renamed to Busan Contents Market from 2007. With a mere 229 companies from 18 nations, the festival kicked-off the first year at the Grand Hotel located along Haeundae Beach.
Today, the internationally acclaimed Busan Contents Market has come a long way to celebrate its 10th anniversary at the market this year with programmes consisting of seven categories with 18 individual major events lined to mark the start of its next stage of development. The content market will be followed by a variety of events including BCM Forum – Asian Next Generation Contents Seminar, BCM Academy, BCM Market+, BCM Pitching, MIP Academy – BCM2016 Global Contents Producer Academy, Biz Marching and others. There will be a huge segment focusing on formats and co-productions in the documentary, animation and mobile genre for this year’s Busan Contents Market.
The highly devoted sponsors of the festival include the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Metropolitan City of Busan. As the market opens its doors this year on 11-13 May, it will continue with its ongoing official slogan ‘BCM – New Contents, New Network’.
Last year, the content market saw a remarkable record attendance of 2,000 buyers and sellers participating from 554 companies who came from 45 countries. Recorded sales generated during the market reached a new height of US $93.57 million with numerous coproduction deals concluded, leading to other developments and join promotions. There was also a surge in drama production houses at the market focusing on drama sales while other genres including animations, documentaries, mobile and UHD titles saw enormous interest from participants.
MIP Academy made its debut last year and will return in full force this year. BCM2015 Global Contents Producer Academy premiered in conjunction with France’s Reed MIDEM, attracting some 200 attendees. The academy session attracted the largest number of participants including media students who were amused by the globally renowned key note speakers which included names like Avi Armoza CEO Amoza Formats, Glenn Sims SVP Content & Production, Fremantle Indonesia, Jinwoo Hwang Head of Formats Development CJ E&M, Sabrina Duguet SVP International Formats Sales, All3media International and many more.
This year, BCM2016 Global Contents Producer Academy will return for the second time with a different session. From 2011, Asian Next Generation Contents Seminar has been taking place every year among production and content experts from three nations – primarily Korea, China and Japan to further promote the content industry.
Among various events taking place during the three market days, Biz Matching which was launched back in 2010, where investors and various production houses had come together to get funding and advice for various projects at hand. This widely attractive segment will return with a bigger pool of investment companies making their presence at the market this year.
Introduced for the first time in 2014, the Cultural Contents Investment Fund Briefing Session in conjunction with Biz Matching is another ‘must attend’ session taking place at the market. Working closely with BCM Pitching to boost business among content business industry in Korea, about 120 people attended the segment last year. This further promotes the nature of business and investment opportunities by exchanging various investment related information among attending companies.
The Asian Documentary Awards will be premiering for the first time with categories in underwater documentary and in the area of coproduction projects. This event has been introduced with much demand and positive note from industry professionals.
Since 2008, BCM has incorporated a segment for the future generation in the industry. The BCM Academy is a theoretical session especially for Korean university students who are pursuing a career in this industry. This academic session has always been highly welcomed by students to further their studies and learn more about the broadcasting industry from industry experts at BCM.
During the market, public events will also be organised at BCM Plaza where various exhibitions and activities for families and children to better experience the broadcasting and media world. BCM Plaza has been renamed as BCM Market+ with richer content available to engage the general public for four days.
Besides all the formal events, BCM also provided several networking opportunities for aftermarket discussions where extensive sharing and exchange of information will. Participants are welcome to attend the ‘Asian Producers’ Networking Night’ and ‘Toast to Busan Producers’ Night’ which will also be introduced for the first time. As BCM means business, the organisers expect every participant to benefit from events held after official meeting sessions – providing for a more relaxed environment.
