It has only been shorter than ten years since Korea’s entertainment industry was activated and expanded into the world.
The E&M industry, such as the American Hollywood film industry and label industry, has a long history of leading the global market. However, the entertainment industry of South Korea, a small country in East Asia, is on a global scale after having just entered the global market.
As published by the consulting firm PwC, which has been publishing the industry size index of entertainment & media for 20 years, the size of the Korean content industry was $59.8 billion as of 2018, or only 2.6% of the $2.3 trillion of the entire industry.
However, as we enter 2021, the world pays attention to Korea’s small entertainment and media industry. Not surprisingly, Korean conglomerates are also starting to make aggressive investments.
The Singularity of Korean entertainment
Seo Jang-ho, managing director of CJ Entertainment, pointed out that Korea’s active investment in the global market and inflow of foreign capital has laid the foundation for its global expansion.
Japan, which has a population of 100 million or more, and China, which has a population of 1 billion or more, can produce satisfactory results for the domestic market. However, he noted that the domestic market of South Korea, a small country with a population of 50 million, created a situation where they had no choice but to make aggressive investments in overseas markets.
Also, entertainment companies, usually called the first wave of Hallyu, have invested a lot in the mass production of multinational idols and groups. However, until 2010, only Korean-Americans participated. Moreover, the recruitment of artists from Southeast Asia began in earnest.
Cultural Singularity Unique to Korea
Also, culturally, Korea has a culture that can be criticized in general. Furthermore, as Korean society has achieved rapid growth, there are also negative aspects amid government corruption and excessive competition. However, Koreans tend to have a strong voice in the media about social criticism. In other words, we get much support for portraying the problem without ignoring this dark side. Ironically, these whistleblower stories also allowed them to stand out in the global market and various genres.
Fandom Culture
Another characteristic that Koreans enjoy media is that the subject of popular culture has become a fan. As mentioned earlier, pop culture contains social messages, so more fans respond to them, and it creates a synergy among artists, fans, and society.
In this culture where fans and artists influence each other and create results, creations that could be simple entertainment are expressed as social phenomena, and messages grow into items that lead the market from content that could have been stopped as entertainment.
Finding Talented People
Korean companies are susceptible to information and tend to select and manage talents based on their skills. As competition is fierce, there is a transparent, competency-oriented corporate culture.
It is analyzed that such Korean culture has created a competency-oriented rather than connection-based corporate and industrial culture. This has led to greater industrial competitiveness in general industries, especially the entertainment industry.
In the sense that the entertainment industry is a field that competes based on individuality and ability, not connection, it is seen that it is helpful for Korea’s competitiveness in the cultural entertainment field, which emphasizes ability.
Seo Jang-ho added, “Korean companies have high decision-making speed and high research ability to collect and analyze information.”
Lastly, while Koreans are very proud of their content spreading to the world, they have a public opinion that expresses concern and worry about their culture invading other people’s culture or being viewed aggressively in other cultures.
South Korea has a short history of cultural, social, and political exchanges with many countries. Therefore, it is really difficult to lead the world’s culture under the present circumstances. However, if Korea loses respect for other countries, it is expected to maintain a stronger cultural position in the world market.
Reference list
Cho, C.-H. and Cho, I.-H. (2013). Study on Overseas Expansion of Korean Entertainment Business : Focusing on Music Contents Production in Korea and Japan. The Joural of the Korea Entertainment Industry Association, 7(3), p.15.
Jung, J. (2019). A Study on Storytelling Strategies for K-POP : Focusing on BTS. Journal of Korea Culture Industry, 19(3), pp.63–72.
파이낸셜뉴스 (2021). 블룸버그 “오징어 게임 성공으로 한국경제 신성장 동력 확보.” [online] 파이낸셜뉴스. Available at: https://www.fnnews.com/news/202110071556111808 [Accessed 12 Oct. 2021].
Vargas Meza, X. and Park, H.W. (2014). Globalization of cultural products: a webometric analysis of Kpop in Spanish-speaking countries. Quality & Quantity, 49(4), pp.1345–1360.
