True Fans Who Open Their Wallets Are the Real Competitive Strength of K-Entertainment Companies

Core Fandom: Key Indicator of K-Pop Sustainability
Top 4 Agencies Ranked Hive-SM-JYP-YG

Among the top four entertainment agencies in South Korea, which company has secured the largest 'core fandom' (highly loyal fanbase)? An analysis revealed that HYBE, which captivated global netizens with BTS, holds the largest core fandom.

On the 5th, IBK Investment & Securities proposed 'core fandom' as an indicator to gauge the sustainability of K-pop's spread. Core fandom refers to a highly loyal fanbase that continuously purchases albums or attends concerts, serving as a stable revenue source for agencies and laying the foundation for industry growth.

'The Power of ARMY'... HYBE Ranks 1st Among Entertainment BIG4 in Core Fandom

On October 15, 2022, BTS performed at the concert 'Yet To Come in BUSAN' held at the Busan Asiad Main Stadium to support the bid for the 2030 Busan World Expo.

IBK estimated the core fandoms of the domestic BIG4 agencies: SM, YG, JYP, and HYBE. As a result, HYBE ranked first with an overwhelming 1.6 million fans, followed by SM (760,000), JYP (640,000), and YG (420,000). HYBE's top position was largely due to BTS's massive fandom size, with a core fandom of 700,000.

Core Fandom Size of the BIG4 Entertainment Agencies

IBK pointed out, "When considering key questions such as K-pop sustainability, relying solely on current activity indicators (album sales, concert attendance, SNS followers, YouTube views, etc.) can lead to distorted conclusions," adding, "In the case of album sales, some fans purchase hundreds of the same album to collect photocards or win offline event tickets." This implies that the figures may be inflated by one-off events.

On the other hand, core fandom is important because it directly contributes to agencies' main revenue sources such as albums, concerts, merchandise, and content. IBK explained, "Unlike core fandom, the general public contributes indirectly through music streaming consumption and increased artist IP awareness." Additionally, HYBE not only has the largest number of core fans but also ranks first among the BIG4 in the amount spent per fan on artists.

Global K-pop 'Core Fanbase' Ranking: Japan > China > USA

Current Status of the K-pop Export Market

The global export value of K-pop albums has steadily grown over seven years from 2015 to 2021. Notably, the core fandom purchasing albums is largest in three countries: Japan, China, and the United States.

As of August last year, the cumulative sales share was Japan (38.4%), China (21.5%), and the United States (16.2%), with these three countries accounting for over 76% of global sales. IBK explained, "(These three countries) are expected to show high performance contributions due to their greater purchasing power compared to other fandoms."

The base of K-pop fandom continues to expand. According to the Korea Customs Service, the number of countries exporting K-pop was only 51 in 2015 but nearly tripled to 148 countries by the end of 2021.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.