2022 Analysis of Global Hallyu Status

By the World Association for Hallyu Studies

Key Findings

1. Various ways to enjoy Hallyu

• According to the “2022 Analysis of Global Hallyu Status,” the numbers of both Hallyu communities and community members worldwide increased in 2022, achieving a numerical growth of about 15% each. Specifically, the number of Hallyu communities increased by 220 (15.0%), while that of Hallyu community members grew by 22 million (14.2%). Whereas the previous trend of Hallyu fandom showed a consolidation of a decreasing number of communities alongside an increase in the number of community members, in 2022 the size of Hallyu fandom grew as the nature of communities diversified.

• There are two reasons why the shift observed in Hallyu fandom in 2022 is different from previous years. First, it is possible to interpret that as the policy of Living with COVID-19 has been implemented, offline communities have been activated as a result through eased social distancing. Unlike online communities, offline ones are subject to proximity and spatial constraints, so the number of communities increased along with the number of community members.

• Second, it is possible to interpret that the major types of Hallyu content consumed have been diversified and subdivided. Hallyu fandom tends to be formed around a specific celebrity or content type, so if various characters or cultural products become popular, the number of communities can increase. Unlike in 2021, the growth trend of 2022, in which the numbers of both community members and communities increased together, seems to be a result of these influences.

2. The driving force behind the growth of the Hallyu is still K-Pop

• As 2022 was a year in which the value of many Hallyu products such as Squid Game was highlighted, it was expected that fandom would grow mainly around actors, movies, dramas, and entertainment shows, but in reality this was not the case. The number of communities active in content areas such as dramas and movies increased from 169 in 2021 to 180 in 2022, but its proportion among all Hallyu-related communities decreased from 11.5% of the total number to 10.7%. It means that the contribution of these genres to the growth of the entire Hallyu fan base was not as great as expected. This is because works with finite storylines, such as dramas and movies, lack content that can continue to be consumed once screening is over. Because of this, their community activities tend to be organized around one genre, such as K-dramas and Korean movies in general, rather than individual cultural products in particular.

• Meanwhile, the number of fan communities active in specifically K-pop increased from 966 in 2021 (65.94% of the total number of Hallyu communities) to 1,136 in 2022 (67.2%), which is not only an absolute increase in size, but also a greater percentage of the entire Hallyu fan base. Unlike dramas and movies, the objects of K-pop fandom continue to be active and live their everyday lives, and so consumable content continues to be produced. Rather than being tied to the genre itself, fan clubs are formed around individual celebrities or groups, and they tend to feel a bond through direct communication with celebrities. In line with the current trend of strengthening both the quantity and quality of Hallyu fandom, efforts to discover and support various stars and their activities are necessary to sustain the growth of K-pop as a driving force of Hallyu as a whole.

3. Asia as Hallyu’s back yard, Europe still to be explored

• As of 2022, the region with the largest scale of both the number of Hallyu communities and community members is the Asian continent. The number of communities here is 596, accounting for 35.4% of the global total, but the number of community members is approximately 130 million, accounting for 73.5% of the worldwide figure. Compared to 2021, there was a quantitative increase, but there was no significant growth in terms of the percentage of total Hallyu fandom. Since culture tends to be propagated first to countries with a low cultural distance, it may be that Asian countries that share a specific heritage, such as Buddhism, were more open to Hallyu content. Asia can be seen as a region where Hallyu fandom is stable, and, based on this, it is necessary to develop a strategy to expand Hallyu to the rest of the world.

• On the other hand, compared to 2021, the region that showed the greatest growth in terms of both size and share of fans around the world is Europe. Europe has 509 communities and about 13.2 million community members as of 2022, which is the result of a 37.6% increase in the number of communities and a 37.1% growth in the number of community members, respectively, over the previous year. In addition, Europeans comprise 30.2% of worldwide Hallyu communities and 7.4% of worldwide Hallyu community members, showing growth rates of 19.6% and 20.06%, respectively, compared to the previous year. As the result shows the potential for Hallyu capacity in Europe, European countries can become a bridgehead for Hallyu expansion in the future.

4. Established Facebook, Growing Instagram

• According to the survey, in 2022, it was revealed that Facebook accounted for the largest proportion of platforms on which Hallyu communities around the world were active. As of 2022, 754 communities communicate mainly on Facebook, which is a decrease of 51 (a 6.3% drop) compared to 805 in the previous year. The share of Facebook among all community activity platforms decreased drastically from 55.0% to 44.8%. Men in their late 20s and early 30s are the main Facebook users, whereas women in their early 20s make up a small percentage of Facebook users worldwide, at 9.3%.

Considering that the main consumers of Hallyu, especially K-Pop, are mainly young women, it is expected that the role of Facebook in the spread and communication of Hallyu will gradually decrease.

• In contrast, Instagram’s media share is significantly lower than Facebook’s so far, but it is showing strong growth. As of 2022, 406 communities are active on Instagram, a 67.8% increase compared to 242 in 2021. In addition, the share of Instagram-based communities among Hallyu groups around the world increased from 16.5% to 24.1%. The majority of the global population using Instagram is young people in their early 30s or younger, with the percentage of female users in their early 20s at 17%. This means that globally, the Instagram user population is younger than that of Facebook. In other words, the new generation tends to prefer Instagram over Facebook, because the former, focusing on photos and video clips, is more effective in appealing to trendy sensibilities than Facebook, which focuses on text. Considering that the future rise and fall of Hallyu should go beyond the MZ cohort and target Alpha, that is, the following generation, we should pay attention to Instagram as a medium in terms of Hallyu propagation

5. Now the world is living with COVID-19

• 2021 and 2022 were both equally under the influence of COVID-19, but the policies enacted by different countries to deal with it showed clear differences. Starting in the second half of 2021, some countries around the world, such as the United Kingdom, Singapore, and Israel, eased social distancing, and at the end of 2022, even China joined in the Living with COVID-19 policy. A characteristic change caused by Living with COVID-19 is that the number of communities, including offline activities, has increased. The number of communities in which the nature of activities is mainly offline or at least includes offline activities is 726 as of 2022, an increase of 155 from 571 in the previous year. This is a 26.8% growth, which is significantly higher than the 15.0% increase in the total number of communities. As such, it can be inferred that communities that include offline activities played a significant role in the increase of the quantity of Hallyu groups.

• Also, among all types of communities, the share of those that have offline activities increased from 39.0% to 43.0%. Communities that are still only active online account for the majority, but it is interpreted that global Hallyu fandom is gradually entering the world of Living with COVID-19. A characteristic of communities that engage in offline activities is that they are relatively more limited by spatial constraints than online-oriented communities. Communities are subdivided according to the area where the members live, and it is difficult to accommodate a large number of people in one place. Therefore, in the case of future Hallyu-related projects, the spatial aspect of offline fandom should be considered.

6. K-Pop? K-drama? K-everything!

• Preference for Hallyu, which began with K-pop or K-dramas, positively changes the image of Korea as a country, which can spark interest in other areas of Korean culture. Growth areas may be other types of cultural content such as Korean movies, or economic products such as K-beauty or K-food. This expansion serves as a mechanism for a virtuous cycle that lowers the cultural distance and makes it easier to accept further Korean cultural content.

• The number of communities whose activities are not limited to one type of Hallyu fandom but extend into two or more areas, increased from 212 in 2021 to 256 in 2022. That rise by 44 communities equaled a growth rate of 20.8%. The proportion of all communities active in two or more areas of Hallyu increased slightly from 14.5% to 15.2%. The expansion of areas of interest according to the preference for Hallyu content is one aspect that shows the potential of Hallyu-related businesses in the future, and, in line with this, a strategy is required to ensure that Korea itself, rather than any specific cultural product, has brand power.