South Korea's content industry is expected to see its sales and exports grow about 5 percent and 8 percent in 2015, boosted by continued Asiawide interest in Korean pop culture products, the government forecast Monday.

The culture ministry and the Korea Creative Contents Agency (KOCCA) said the industry's sales will likely come to 98.9 trillion won ($91.8 billion) this year, up 4.9 percent from last year's 94.3 trillion won.

Overseas shipments are projected to grow 8.1 percent on-year to $5.84 billion this year.

Sales and exports grew 3.4 percent and 9.8 percent last year from a year earlier, respectively.

The content industry is an umbrella term encompassing publishers, broadcasters, advertisers and firms producing music, computer games, animations, movies, musicals and other creative content.

Exports of the content industry have been on the increase for the past five years, with this year's estimate representing a jump of some 70 percent from $3.19 billion in 2010, which is attributable to the Asiawide boom of Korean TV dramas, films and pop songs, known as "hallyu."

Last year, South Korea had the world's seventh-largest content market, accounting for 2.8 percent of the global market, according to the KOCCA. The United States maintained an overwhelming No. 1 spot with a share of 32.1 percent, followed by Japan, China, Germany, Britain and France. (Yonhap)