Trends in Subculture Content and Implications for the Korean Content Industry

Ji Hye Park ()
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Ji Hye Park: Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade, Postal: Sejong National Research Complex, Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade, 370 Sicheong Dae-ro C-dong 8-12F 30147, Republic of Korea, http://www.kiet.re.kr/en

No 24-31, Industrial Economic Review from Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade

Abstract: In 2022, South Korea exported USD 12.5 billion worth of cultural content, a 4.4 percent increase compared to the previous year, and good for 7th place worldwide. Key to this performance were profitable intellectual properties (IPs) in music (K-Pop), online comics (webtoons), television series (dramas), and film. Global over-the-top (OTT) streaming powerhouse Netflix has made and continues to make large-scale investments in original Korean IP to grow its subscriber base and recently has focused these investments on securing video game and webtoon IPs. Recently, players in the content industry are paying increasingly more attention to trends in subculture and are now looking to secure IPs related to various subcultures to preempt the market as competition for IPs between existing market players intensifies. Subcultures have formed around webtoons and virtual novellas, games, animations, and internet stars (content creators and streamers), and this buzz has piqued the mainstream content industry’s interest. In this paper, I examine some major subcultures active in Korea and explore how industry players could leverage them for export and continued growth.

Keywords: K-Pop; K-Drama; hallyu; 한류; Korean wave; manwha; webtoons; cartoons; manga; video games; phone games; streaming; Netflix; subculture; indie culture; otaku; V-Tubers; Genshin Impact; fandom; South Korea; China; content industry; KIET (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L82 L86 L88 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 10 pages
Date: 2024-12-31
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cul and nep-ind
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