The world of Korean entertainment has come a long way since “Gangnam Style” dancers toured around the world about 15 years ago.
Korean content industry leaders from both sides of the Pacific gathered in London’s West Hollywood earlier this month to take stock of South Korea’s rapid progress as an exporter of music, movies, television shows, short material, and other digital content that has permeated traditional Hollywood.
The K-Entertainment Industry Summit was hosted by CJ ENM, one of the few Korean conglomerates that has built a robust ecosystem for the production and distribution of K-content. This is part of the Asian diaspora’s growing influence driving innovation across media, from vertical dramas to livestream e-commerce to the webtoon graphic novel boom.
A good example mentioned at the half-day summit was Boffo’s performance over the past year in Netflix’s “Kpop Demon Hunters,” an animated film rooted in Korean folklore.
“Let’s remove the notion that this is an outlier and simply look at it for what it is: a great piece of storytelling with innovative animation,” said James Shin, president of HYBE America Studios. “They had the biggest musical aspirations. How can they achieve that while adhering to the whole idea of authenticity? It’s the details. The beauty and the specificity.” That’s what set “Kpop Demon Hunter” apart.
Hyonbae Park, CEO of CJ ENM America, said at the beginning of an invite-only event on May 14 that, in his view, the first year of the K-content boom was 2012, when PSY set dance floors ablaze around the world with his smash hit “Gangnam Style.” The hit caused a stir on YouTube and showed the world just how much art, media, and culture is exploding in South Korea.
Since 2012, the Korean-language film “Parasite” won the Oscar for Best Picture and the drama series “Squid Game” set records for Netflix. 2012 was also the year that CJ ENM first held the KCON Fan Festival in Los Angeles, and in recent years has expanded the event to New York, Japan, Paris, and Mexico City.
“When I first came to the United States in 1990, I lived in a small town in New Jersey. I was one of the few Asians there. People would come up to me and ask, ‘Where are you from?'” And I’d say, ‘Korea,’ and a lot of people would say, ‘Korea, is that a country? ‘… Fast forward to 2026 and no one will ask what Korea is anymore,’ Hyunbae Park said. “Today, Korean entertainment is everywhere and everyone loves it.”
That’s not to say there aren’t hurdles or cultural barriers. K-pop as a genre is experiencing an inevitable decline after a decade of boom.
“I think people who don’t know what K-pop is think of it as a very young niche. But when you look at its global reach and (how) it has transcended all over the world, you see an even bigger age difference,” said John Kim, vice president of marketing and distribution for UMG/Interscope Records. “It goes from young teens to mid-40s to 50s. I grew up on K-pop and my son grew up on K-pop, so it’s now a cross-generational thing.”
K-Pop-related opportunities are exciting for brands as they are recognized as being at the cutting edge of global youth culture.
“We focused on K-pop and particularly unique artists who can bridge and connect us with a new generation with new values,” said Michael Trainor, Hennessy vice president of Moët Hennessy USA, which partnered with former K-pop idol Jackson Wang.
“We realized again that extreme diversity, all different demographics, all different ages, and our fan base wanted more than just the experience. So we delivered on that and created different collaborative items each year that really resonated with Jackson and his fan base,” Trainor said. “Everything from special content to limited-edition bottles and even songs allows us to engage with our audience on a much deeper level than our regular endorsements, demonstrating the power that exists not only around the world, but here in the United States.”
Tara Klee, global tour director at AEG Presents, agreed that K-pop fans are trendsetters.
“They have a voice and it’s really powerful,” she said. “There are a lot of opportunities specifically with brands and sponsorships. K-pop fans dream of it because they want to arrive eight hours early and get in line.”
Daniel Kraynik, senior vice president of television at Jerry Bruckheimer Television, said the strength of fandom around K-pop stars is attractive to producers and platforms. Bruckheimer TV is producing the English version of the popular Korean drama “Woo.”
“We would be happy if we could connect a Korean star with something, especially someone in the K-pop world. It’s really exciting to see that fan base, because that fan base is what you want to take with you when you carry your luggage,” she said.
Sera Tab, global head of television at Webtoon Productions, cautioned that the K-content fandom is not monolithic. Adapting Asian content in the West requires understanding the essence of the work. Fortunately, with digital and social media, there is a 24/7 feedback loop.
“What we realized is that each of our IPs has its own culture, because webtoons have a comments section. As you scroll through each episode, at the end, people are commenting. For us as adapters, we can track in real time how people are reacting to a particular character moment, and what kind of engagement we’re seeing across the history of the comic. This means a lot to us,” Tabb said.
John Wax, Disney Entertainment’s executive vice president of international original television, cited South Korea and Japan as major areas of focus for Disney’s global content strategy. The Mouse invests in content across Asia with the aim of strengthening the region’s power in the competitive market for streaming content. He cited the success of unique K content called “Battle of Fate,” a game show in which Korean psychics, tarot card readers, and others compete.
“Certainly, as a global streamer, if something tends to travel, that’s appealing to us, even if that’s not the goal of every (show),” Wax said. “Japan and South Korea are two areas of focus for us. So we’re looking forward to getting a little bit more of our content into Southeast Asia and other places where we want to get more originals, whether it’s within the region, if not the world.”
(Photo: Variety’s Cynthia Littleton, Disney’s John Wax, Webtoon’s Sera Tubb and Jerry Bruckheimer Television’s Daniel Kleinik at the K-Entertainment Industry Summit in West Hollywood on May 14)
