FIAT/IFTA World Conference 2024

Currently, the legal deposit for film productions in South Korea is mainly limited to theater releases that have been rated by the Korea Media Rating Board. On the other hand, the amendment to the Act on the Promotion of Motion Pictures and Video Products allows platforms and content providers to self-rate content released on the over-the-top(OTT). Content that is self-rated by the provider is not subject to legal deposit after release. Recently, the OTT industries have continued to develop, but OTT content that is outside the scope of the legal deposit system has not been preserved. Therefore, it is necessary to explore alternatives for collecting and archiving OTT content that is in the gaps of national collection and management.

In 2023, Korean Film Archive (KOFA) conducted a survey to identify the current status of content storage in OTT content producers and platforms and gather opinions from those in the field. Through this, KOFA examines the necessity of collecting OTT content, what to preserve, and how to collect it. In this study, a total of 21 face-to-face interviews were conducted with a group of stakeholders from content producers and platforms, policy makers, and researchers. Questions were asked about the production environments of major OTT providers, the types, genres, and topics of content they produce, the current state of production data management, key issues, and how the public sector can support them. The survey focused on the need for archiving at the national level, prerequisites for introducing a public OTT content archiving system, and whether public archiving is necessary to promote and foster the OTT industries. Based on stakeholder interviews, the study summarizes what to preserve OTT content and how to acquire it efficiently. The study finally suggests directions and implementation strategies to preserve OTT content for national audiovisual heritage safeguarding.