Director Yang Woo-suk Says Korea’s Video Content Market Has ‘Effectively Collapsed,’ Urges RWA Tokenization

Director Yang Woo-suk, known for films including “The Attorney” and “Steel Rain,” said tokenization of real-world assets, or RWAs, could help revive South Korea’s struggling film industry.

Speaking at the Digital Finance and K-Content Innovation Seminar at the FKI Tower in Yeouido on July 24, Yang said South Korea’s video content market has “effectively collapsed” and needs a new investment structure built on blockchain-based RWA tokenization.

Yang, who has produced and directed films including “The Attorney,” “Steel Rain” and “Steel Rain 3,” said he has seen firsthand how the country’s content industry has changed. The film business has shifted rapidly from a theater-centered market to one led by online streaming platforms, but legacy investment and distribution models have failed to keep up, sharply weakening the production ecosystem.

“In the past, investments were recouped on the assumption of a theatrical release, but that model has effectively broken down as the market shifted to OTT platforms including Netflix,” Yang said. “The advertising market has also moved to platforms such as YouTube, hurting profitability for both broadcasters and production companies.” He added that new forms of content consumption, including short-form video, have emerged, but financing models to support them have yet to be established.

Yang said RWA tokenization could provide a solution. He said the content industry will struggle to grow if it relies only on the domestic market, and that global investors could participate more easily if intellectual property rights and revenue rights tied to films, dramas, webtoons and games were issued as blockchain-based RWA tokens.

He added that digital assets should be viewed not as speculative tools but as financial infrastructure that can help revive the real economy, including the content industry.