To produce or resell? Which content strategy is more efficient for program providers?

The importance of online content to the broadcasting industry is growing. Accordingly, many broadcasters are trying to develop their own content-production capabilities. This article analyzes the technical efficiency of program providers (PPs) in the Korean broadcasting and communications industries according to strategy—content self-production, content reselling, or both—using stochastic frontier analysis and meta frontier analysis (MFA). Based on the 10-year MFA efficiency level, content reselling was associated with high volatility, whereas content self-production was associated with an increasing trend in efficiency. Conversely, producers who both resell and produce content experienced little variability in their efficiency. This result indicates that PPs should use a diversification strategy in Korean broadcasting markets, which is highly competitive.