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Moving Beyond Streaming: 2025 International Streaming Festival to Be Held for Four Days Starting on August 22

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Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Heong-joon) announced that, together with the Ministry of Science and ICT (Minister Baek Kyung-hoon), it will host the 2025 International Streaming Festival from August 22 to 25 at the Busan Cinema Center and Paradise Hotel Busan.
○ Marking its third edition this year, the festival encompasses the entire streaming industry, including online video services (OTT) and free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST)*, and provides opportunities for international exchange, overseas expansion, and investment attraction for companies.

• ●FAST (Free Ad-supported Streaming TV)
  ○ In addition, a variety of audience-participatory programs will be offered, including the Global OTT Awards, the OST Concert, Media & Brand Day, and Series Screenings.

The international awards ceremony recognizing outstanding content from around the world will open in splendid fashion at 19:00 on August 24 at the outdoor theater of the Busan Cinema Center. This year’s ceremony will present awards in 18 categories (14 competitive and 4 invited), and candidates for each competitive category were unveiled on July 21 from among 145 entries submitted by 24 major platforms in 13 countries. The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on August 24.
○ A glittering lineup of renowned domestic and overseas guests will attend the ceremony. Korean actors to walk the red carpet include Park Eun-bin (Hyperknife), Oh Jung-se (Good Boy), and Yum Hye-ran and Choi Dae-hoon (Thank You for Your Hard Work). Overseas stars such as Sakaguchi Kentaro (Things That Come After Love) and Bai Jingting (Nan Hong) will also attend.
○ The event will include a red-carpet ceremony and celebratory performances. Detailed information about the nominees and awards ceremony can be found on the official website (kisf.kr).

The International Streaming Summit (August 22 / Paradise Hotel Busan) will feature two separate sessions on OTT and FAST, and will explore key trends and future prospects in the global media market in depth.
○ The keynote speech will be delivered by Omdia, a global research group, on “Global Streaming Trends Reshaping Media and Entertainment in 2025.” The session will analyze the current status of the global OTT industry by region and explore strategies for the overseas expansion of K-OTT. It will also discuss the rapid growth of the FAST market and strategies for its global expansion.

The Investment Promotion Showcase (August 23–24 / Paradise Hotel Busan) will present excellent proposals from 15 companies and offer promotional opportunities to 15 media technology firms to attract investment. One-on-one business meetings will also be held to facilitate practical investment attraction.

In particular, this year’s edition features various audience participation programs, including the OST Concert, Media & Brand Day, and Series Screenings at the Busan Cinema Center.
○ ▲ [OST Concert, August 25, 19:00] The outdoor theater will host performances by Hong Isaac, Nerd Connection, Jungshikyi Band, Eve, and Elaine. ▲ [Media & Brand Day, August 22–25] Screening rooms and the outdoor plaza will feature a free audio description demonstration of Netflix’s K-Pop Demon Hunters and an experience booth for TiViNG’s The Great Escape: The Story. ▲ [Series Screenings, August 22–25] At the outdoor theater and middle theater, five major award candidates — Unknown Seoul, Nan Hong, All the Girls in My Class, I Liked Them All, 4°C, and Northward — will be screened, accompanied by audience Q&A sessions*.
* Audience Q&A sessions: Nan Hong, All the Girls in My Class, I Liked Them All, 4°C

Cho Yoo-jang, Director General of Culture at Busan Metropolitan City, stated, “This festival is expected to serve as a global platform for showcasing the latest trends and innovations in the streaming industry and promoting global exchange and cooperation,” adding, “Busan Metropolitan City will continue our efforts to discover excellent content and strengthen our business networks.”