BROADCAST ADVERTISING REGULATION
WHAT THE LAWACTUALLY SAYS.
In Korean broadcast sponsorship, more is settled by statute than by contract. Which programmes are eligible, how large the product may appear on screen, whether a character may say the brand name: all of it is written down. What follows was checked against the statute text at the Korea Law Information Centre on 4 August 2026.
Last checked
The short answer
Product placement is defined by Article 73(2)(7) of the Broadcasting Act and governed by Article 59-3 of its Enforcement Decree. It is permitted only in factual and entertainment programming, never in news, current affairs, commentary, debate or children’s programmes. It may occupy up to 7 per cent of programme running time and one quarter of the screen, and no character may mention the product or urge its purchase.
Sponsor credit, production support, placement and virtual advertising are four different products
In practice all four get called "협찬". Legally they sit on different articles and appear on screen in different ways. Establish which one you are pricing before you compare quotes: this is why the figures differ by orders of magnitude.
| Product | Legal basis | How it appears | What is guaranteed | Published band (SBS, August 2026 card) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sponsor credit | Broadcasting Act Art. 74, Decree Art. 60, sponsor credit regulation | A caption naming the sponsor at the end of the programme. On television, once, up to 45 seconds, no larger than a quarter of the screen | The caption is guaranteed. It is a disclosure, so it cannot carry promotional wording | Not carried on the published rate card. Priced against the value of what is supplied |
| Production support | A form of sponsorship. Same basis as the sponsor credit | Production costs are supported and the sponsor is named in the credit | The credit is guaranteed. On-screen appearance is not | Not carried on the published rate card |
| Product placement | Act Art. 73(2)(7), Decree Art. 59-3 | The product or logo appears inside the programme. A caption before the programme disclosing that it contains placement is mandatory | The placement is contracted; how much survives the edit is not fixed | Tier 2 published rates run from KRW 15 million to KRW 100 million. Carried on 13 of the 26 titles in the August 2026 card |
| Virtual advertising | Decree Art. 59-2 | Composited into the picture in post. It was never on set and the studio audience never sees it | Because it is composited, the exposure lands as planned | Slot rates run from KRW 5 million to KRW 210 million |
The bands are the actual range in the August 2026 issue of the SBS rate card SELLi publishes in full. The card is reset monthly and the executed rate varies with the form and volume of exposure. How each is calculated is set out on the cost page.
Placement: Article 73 and Decree Article 59-3
The Broadcasting Act defines the term itself. Article 73(2) lists seven kinds of broadcast advertising, and the seventh is placement.
간접광고 : 방송프로그램 안에서 상품, 상표, 회사나 서비스의 명칭이나 로고 등을 노출시키는 형태의 광고
Scope, duration, frequency and method are delegated to the Enforcement Decree, and that is Article 59-3. The current Decree is Presidential Decree No. 36355, in force from 26 May 2026. Its conditions fall into five parts.
- Which programmes
- Only factual and entertainment programming. Programmes aimed principally at children are excluded, as are news, current affairs, commentary, debate and anything else where objectivity and fairness are required. (Paragraph 1)
- Which products are excluded
- Anything whose broadcast advertising is prohibited, or whose permitted hours are restricted, under another statute or the review regulation. (Paragraph 2) Alcohol falls here.
- How long
- Up to 7 per cent of the programme running time. (Paragraph 3)
- How large
- No more than one quarter of the screen. Only mobile multimedia broadcasting is allowed a third. (Paragraph 4, item 1)
- What must be disclosed
- A caption before the programme starts stating that it contains placement. (Paragraph 4, item 2) This is the placement disclosure, not the sponsor credit. A great many sources conflate the two.
The limit is 7 per cent, not 5
The encyclopaedia entries and agency blogs at the top of the search results still put the terrestrial placement limit at 5 per cent. That figure has been wrong for five years.
Presidential Decree No. 31658, promulgated on 30 April 2021, deleted the two-tier limit of 5 per cent for terrestrial and 7 per cent for pay television and unified it at 7 per cent. The Korea Law Information Centre records the effective date of Article 59-3 as 1 July 2021. Terrestrial drama and variety have been able to carry placement up to 7 per cent of running time since that date.
- Current, from 2021-07-01
- Terrestrial and pay television alike: up to 7 per cent of programme running time
- Before the amendment
- Terrestrial 5 per cent, pay television 7 per cent
- Instrument
- Enforcement Decree Article 59-3(3), as amended by Presidential Decree No. 31658 of 30 April 2021
For a 60-minute drama that is a ceiling of four minutes and twelve seconds. In practice the edit and the story come first and the ceiling is almost never reached, but it is what tells you at planning stage how many brands a single episode can carry.
Programmes and products that are closed
Two of these are questions of eligibility rather than budget. Money does not move them.
간접광고는 교양 또는 오락에 관한 방송프로그램에만 허용된다. 다만 … 1. 어린이를 주 시청대상으로 하는 방송프로그램 2. 보도·시사·논평·토론 등 객관성과 공정성이 요구되는 방송프로그램
That is why three titles on the SBS card SELLi publishes carry a "no placement" flag: 그것이 알고싶다, 궁금한 이야기 Y and 모닝와이드 2부. If an agency proposes placement into one of those on the strength of its ratings, you can stop reading the proposal there. The surrounding breaks, mid-programme breaks and virtual advertising remain available on the same titles.
Prohibited products take one more step. Article 59-3(2) says only that products whose broadcast advertising is prohibited or time-restricted under another statute may not be placed. Which products those are is decided elsewhere. Alcohol is the clearest case.
- Alcohol
- Table 1 to the Enforcement Decree of the National Health Promotion Act prohibits broadcast advertising of drinks above 17 per cent ABV outright, and restricts everything below it to outside 07:00 to 22:00 on television and outside 17:00 to 08:00 on radio. Either limb triggers Article 59-3(2), so alcohol is out of placement regardless of strength.
- Tobacco
- Broadcast advertising is prohibited, so placement is closed by the same route.
- Medicines and medical procedures
- Categories whose advertising is separately regulated are filtered by the same clause. This needs checking category by category at planning stage.
Can a character use the product? Reading item 4 properly
This is the most frequently misquoted provision on the subject. The text reads:
해당 방송프로그램에서 간접광고를 하는 상품 등을 언급하거나 구매·이용을 권유하지 아니할 것
The word "spoken" does not appear. Mention itself is prohibited. The phrase "음성 언급", spoken mention, comes from the virtual advertising provision at Article 59-2(4)(4)(b); the caption, voice and prop breakdown for placement comes from the broadcast review regulation at Article 47(2)(1), not from the Decree. A great deal of published guidance mixes the three.
Demonstrating the product is a separate matter, and it appears nowhere in Article 59-3. Using the product naturally within a scene is not prohibited. But that is not the end of it: the broadcast review regulation restricts it independently.
간접광고 상품 등의 기능을 시현하는 장면 또는 이를 이용하는 장면을 과도하게 부각하거나 구체적으로 소개하여 시청흐름을 방해하는 내용
Item 3 adds one more constraint: placement must not affect the content or composition of the programme. That is the legal reason a brand cannot dictate a scene into the script. In practice the desired form of exposure goes to the production team, and the script and the edit remain theirs.
The opening caption and the closing caption are not the same thing
This is the distinction most often got wrong in practice. The caption before the programme and the caption at the end rest on different articles and exist for different reasons.
| Caption | Basis | What it says | When and how often |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opening placement disclosure | Enforcement Decree Art. 59-3(4)(2) | That this programme contains product placement. It discloses a fact, not a brand | Before the programme starts |
| Closing sponsor credit | Broadcasting Act Art. 74, sponsor credit regulation Art. 8 | Who sponsored the programme | On television, once, at the end. Up to 45 seconds, no larger than a quarter of the screen |
For television production sponsorship the credit runs once, at the end. There is no opening sponsor credit and no mid-programme sponsor credit. Only credits attached to trailers may run more often, up to three times an hour and 45 seconds each.
SourceKorea Law Information Centre, sponsor credit regulation
It also explains why promotional wording cannot go into a sponsor credit. The credit is not advertising; it is a disclosure the law requires so that viewers are told who paid, and its format and frequency are fixed by regulation. It is not a place where the brand writes copy.
One more: Article 7(1)(3) of the same regulation prohibits sponsor credits on terrestrial current affairs, news, commentary and debate programming. Because the genres closed to placement and the genres closed to sponsor credits overlap almost exactly, news and current affairs are in practice reachable only through the surrounding and mid-programme breaks.
The regulator has been renamed, and the 2026 amendment is not law yet
Two things changed recently. One is in force and one is not, and a lot of what currently ranks mixes them together.
- Korea Communications Commission became the Korea Media and Communications Commission (in force)
- The renaming took effect on 1 October 2025 under the Government Organisation Act amendment, and the review body was renamed the same day. The website redirects from kcc.go.kr to kmcc.go.kr. The sponsor credit regulation and the broadcast review regulation still carry the former name in their own text, so quoting them verbatim means quoting the old name.
- Screen size from a quarter to a third (not yet)
- This is in the draft amendment reported to the Commission on 12 June 2026 and put out for public comment on 15 June 2026. As of 4 August 2026 the Decree in force, Presidential Decree No. 36355 effective 26 May 2026, still says one quarter. The draft has to clear consultation, inter-ministerial review, legislation review, cabinet and promulgation before it applies.
간접광고와 가상광고의 크기를 현행 1/4 이내에서 1/3 이내로 완화하고 가상광고가 교양프로그램에 가능하도록 허용 장르를 확대한다
What happens when the rules are broken
The party sanctioned is the broadcaster, not the advertiser. The consequence still reaches the advertiser: the offending sequence becomes subject to correction or suspension, and the brand is handled cautiously thereafter.
- Financial penalty
- Article 100(1) of the Broadcasting Act allows a penalty of up to KRW 50 million for breach of the review regulation or the sponsor credit regulation. Paragraph 3 of the same article carries a KRW 100 million ceiling, but only for obscenity and violence breaches and for repeat offences, so it does not apply here.
- Other measures
- Correction, amendment or suspension of the programme or the advertisement; disciplinary action against the programming director and those responsible; a caution or a warning. (Article 100(1))
- What actually happens
- Placement breaches far more often produce a formal sanction from the review body than a financial penalty. A real case follows.
The lesson for a brand is direct. Pushing for the largest and longest possible exposure looks like good negotiating until the review body removes the sequence and damages the whole campaign. The skill an agency is being paid for is designing the exposure that clears review, not the exposure that maximises seconds.
Five ways to check a sponsorship agency
Impersonation genuinely exists in this category and it is on the record. Mediatoday reported in 2007 on a sponsorship agency that put SBS logos on its business cards and contracts, hung an "SBS Partners" sign at its office, and solicited small companies for between KRW 8 million and KRW 50 million in exchange for a chance to appear on television. The case is nearly twenty years old and the method has not changed.
There is recent activity too. In April 2026 the Journalists Association of Korea reported that three media-sector public bodies, the Korea Communications Viewers Foundation, KOBACO and the Korea Press Foundation, each issued fraud alerts after repeated attempts to impersonate their staff with forged business cards and official documents in order to solicit contracts and proposals.
공식 연락처와 도메인이 아닌 경로로 구매 계약이나 제안서 요청이 들어올 경우 반드시 해당 기관에 재확인할 것
The five checks below are limited to things a brand can confirm for itself before signing.
Ask for the credential as a document
"We work with SBS" is not a verifiable statement. Ask for the certificate or partner documentation the broadcaster itself issued, and check the issuing body, the date and the seal. SELLi publishes its SBS official marketing partner certificate as issued on the certificate page.
Check whether the proposal addresses legality
A proposal that offers placement in a news or current affairs programme, or placement for an alcohol brand, ends the assessment on its own. It means slots are being sold without the articles having been read. A proposal from an agency that knows the rules says, in at least one line, why that product is permitted in that programme.
Ask where the rate comes from
Either the rate is explained against the published card, or the answer stops at "that programme costs this much". Terrestrial broadcast advertising is sold through a media representative and every programme carries a published rate. SELLi publishes that card programme by programme. If a structure cannot show you the rate, that is worth asking about.
Confirm who you contract with and who invoices
Which legal entity signs, which entity issues the tax invoice, and whether that entity’s registration and corporate filing actually exist are all things a brand can check directly against the national business registration lookup and the corporate register. A deposit requested without a clear contracting entity is the highest-risk pattern there is.
See whether they raise the failure clause first
A good agency explains what happens on pre-emption, a full cut and a schedule change before the brand asks. Deferring that clause, or answering "that does not happen", means declining to take documented responsibility for it when it does. It is set out as five clauses on the process page.
Frequently asked
- Is the terrestrial placement limit 5 per cent or 7?
- Seven. Presidential Decree No. 31658, promulgated 30 April 2021, replaced the split limit of 5 per cent for terrestrial and 7 per cent for pay television with a single 7 per cent, and Article 59-3 took effect in that form on 1 July 2021. Sources that say 5 per cent are quoting the pre-2021 position.
- What is the difference between sponsorship and placement?
- Sponsorship means supporting the production with money or goods and being named in a caption at the end of the programme. Placement means the product appears inside the programme. They rest on different articles, sponsor credits on Article 74 and placement on Article 73 with Decree Article 59-3, and they appear differently on screen. Production support is a form of sponsorship, so it does not guarantee the product appears at all.
- Can a character say the brand name?
- No. Decree Article 59-3(4)(4) requires that the programme not mention the placed product or urge its purchase or use. The article does not qualify this as spoken mention; mention itself is prohibited.
- Can the product be demonstrated on screen?
- The Decree does not prohibit demonstration, and using the product within the flow of the story is permitted. But Article 47(1)(3) of the broadcast review regulation restricts demonstrations that are excessively foregrounded or introduced in detail so as to disrupt the viewing flow, and that is where sanctions land. Virtual advertising is stricter: a performer physically demonstrating the product is prohibited outright.
- Can an alcohol brand use placement?
- No. Table 1 to the National Health Promotion Act Enforcement Decree prohibits broadcast advertising of drinks above 17 per cent ABV and restricts the hours for everything below it, and Decree Article 59-3(2) closes placement to any product whose broadcast advertising is prohibited or time-restricted. Strength makes no difference to the outcome.
- Is anything at all available in news and current affairs?
- Placement and sponsor credits are both closed. Decree Article 59-3(1) bars placement from news, current affairs, commentary and debate, and Article 7(1)(3) of the sponsor credit regulation bars sponsor credits from terrestrial programmes in the same genres. The surrounding breaks, mid-programme breaks and virtual advertising remain open.
- We heard the screen size limit was relaxed to a third.
- Not yet. That is in the draft amendment reported on 12 June 2026 and opened for comment on 15 June 2026. The rule in force in August 2026 is still one quarter of the screen, and the draft has to be promulgated before it applies.
- Is the advertiser penalised for a breach?
- The broadcaster is. Article 100(1) provides for a penalty of up to KRW 50 million, or correction, amendment or suspension, disciplinary action, a caution or a warning. The loss still lands on the advertiser when the sequence is removed, which is why an exposure designed to clear review beats an exposure designed to maximise seconds.
Sources, all checked 4 August 2026
- Korea Law Information Centre, Broadcasting Act Article 73
- Korea Law Information Centre, Broadcasting Act Article 74
- Korea Law Information Centre, Broadcasting Act Article 100
- Korea Law Information Centre, Enforcement Decree Article 59-2 (virtual advertising)
- Korea Law Information Centre, Enforcement Decree Article 59-3 (placement)
- Korea Law Information Centre, Enforcement Decree Article 60 (sponsor credits)
- Korea Law Information Centre, regulation on sponsor credits
- Korea Law Information Centre, broadcast review regulation Article 47
- Korea Law Information Centre, National Health Promotion Act Enforcement Decree, Table 1
- Korea Media and Communications Commission press release, 12 June 2026
- Korea Media and Communications Commission public comment notice, 15 June 2026
- Korea policy briefing, launch of the Korea Media and Communications Commission, 1 October 2025
- Mediatoday, placement sanction reporting
- Edaily, review commission resolution reporting
- Korea Law Information Centre, Act on Broadcast Advertising Sales Representation
- Korea Media and Communications Commission, licensed advertising sales representatives
- Mediatoday, sponsorship agency impersonating SBS (2007-07-05)
- Journalists Association of Korea, impersonation fraud alerts (2026-04-22)
- SBS News, SBS M&C relicensed as advertising sales representative (2026-07-29)
Once the rules are clear the next question is which permitted product fits the budget. Tell us the range and the category and we will start by separating what is possible from what is not.
Ask what is possible