The Korean wave: A global phenomenon demystified

What began in the 1990s as a regional craze with South Korean dramas capturing Asian audiences has since evolved into a global cultural and economic phenomenon. The Korean Wave, or Hallyu, refers to the global circulation and consumption of South Korean products and services, ranging from music and animation to cosmetics and cuisine, and has captured the hearts of millions.

Exploring the appeal of Hallyu

What drives Hallyu’s global success? What are the secrets behind the Korean Wave’s universal appeal, reaching across social, economic, and, most importantly, cultural geographies—captivating people from diverse religious beliefs, linguistic backgrounds, historical contexts and cultural settings? These questions have long been the subject of academic debate, exploring various factors behind the global appeal power of Hallyu, such as cultural affinities, affective affinities, transnational proximity, cultural hybridity and even cultural glocalisation (the strategic adaptation of cultural products to local markets).

While these factors have provided valuable insights into the success of Hallyu, it remained unclear whether any of these cultural powers could be measured, compared, or assessed in terms of their effectiveness—either monetarily or socially. However, with the development of the Hallyu Tracker, an AI-enabled data visualization and mapping application, these challenges can now be more easily addressed.

The Hallyu tracker: A data-driven solution

Co-funded by the Korea Foundation, the Hallyu Tracker app is a digital creative output of the academic research project Mapping the Global Impacts of Hallyu, The Korean Wave. By analyzing more than 300 datasets across diverse variables, the application offers a platform for comprehensively exploring Hallyu’s appeal and targeted exports, correlating them with consumption patterns in different geographic locations. The app considers local challenges and opportunities across geolocations, offering a more nuanced understanding of Hallyu’s three key powers: Reach, Appeal and Engagement.

Mapping appeal power: Cultural and transnational proximities

The Appeal Power cluster visualizes data layers to indicate Hallyu’s potential appeal in various countries. This mapping is based on cultural and transnational proximities, along with strategic efforts by the Korean government and industries to attract Hallyu consumers. For example, the National Appeal Power measures a country’s exposure to Korean culture and societal realities, combined with its proximity to Korean social norms and cultural values.

Case study: France vs. Vietnam

Despite vastly different geo-cultural contexts, France (99) and Vietnam (100) score similarly on the National Appeal Power Index (0-100) (Figure 1). Vietnam’s geographic proximity provides greater exposure to South Korean culture, with almost a million students studying in South Korea and half a million tourists visiting the country in 2023 alone. However, France scores higher than Vietnam on Hofstede’s cultural proximity scale, indicating a stronger similarity to Korean values in terms of Power Distance (acceptance of hierarchical structures), Individualism (the degree of personal independence), and Uncertainty Avoidance (level of ambiguity discomfort).

Cultural proximity and Hallyu consumption

Do cultural proximities directly translate into stronger Hallyu consumption? While it is difficult to establish a direct causation between France’s high score on the National Appeal Power and its actual K-imports or audience engagement, it is a fact that France is among the top consumers of Hallyu outside of Asia. According to a report by the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange,  the increasing affinity of French people for Korean culture has led to the growing popularity of cultural content, from films to K-pops, dramas and other cultural imports. 

Universal appeal power: Beyond cultural proximity

The appeal of the Korean Wave to different cultural communities extends far beyond cultural and social proximity. Many global K-Idols, such as BTS promote universal human rights and freedom of expression, strongly aligning with universal liberal values.  On the Hallyu Tracker, the Universal Appeal Power Index (0-100) measures a country’s inclusion in the global community based on its adherence to liberal values, international interconnectedness, and internal diversity. Specifically, it calculates the Normative Liberalism Index, which demonstrates the extent to which a country’s political, social, and economic systems align with liberal values, as well as the Global Exposure Index, which reflects a country’s geographic mobility through media, migration, and tourism.

Case study: Brazil vs. the UK

Brazil (60) and the UK (93) illustrate contrasting scores on the Universal Appeal Power. It is no surprise that the UK, a top European leader among the most socially liberal countries worldwide, scores much higher than Brazil. According to the Freedom House, in Brazil, “independent journalists and civil society activists risk harassment and violent attack, and political violence is high” (Figure 2). However, this UK-Brazil comparison on the Universal Appeal Index strongly correlates with the Hallyu Engagement Index, which is based on multiple variables, from digital and physical fandom activities to media coverage. Brazil scores only 63 for Hallyu Engagement, while the UK scores 88.

Digging deeper into these numbers, it becomes evident that the UK’s high Hallyu Engagement score is mostly driven by stronger British media coverage of the Korean Wave, partially explained by the UK’s prominent position in the global news market. Brazil, however, demonstrates much higher numbers for Hallyu fan clubs and the number of active fans in the country, as well as for the average time spent consuming K-Pop music (Figure 3). This raises an interesting hypothesis: while a country might resist universal liberalism due to its political regime and media infrastructure, this does not necessarily translate into its population’s pursuit of universal human rights, needs, and behavioural norms—those promoted through Hallyu content.

Local target appeal: Strategic localisation efforts

The Local Target Appeal Layer reveals the efforts of the Korean entertainment industries and the government to adapt Korean culture and products to international markets. This includes localisation strategies, such as language translations, team internationalisations, cultural exchange programmes, and educational initiatives generously sponsored by South Korea. It provides a snapshot of each country’s strategic efforts to target the biggest potential Hallyu markets, such as China (100), Japan (100), Thailand (99), USA (96) and Australia (82). These countries stand out on the global map with higher indexes for Target Appeal and stronger economies.

Case study: Japan vs. India

Japan (100) outperforms India (67) on the Target Appeal scale, driven by higher industry integration and international exchanges (Figure 4). Japan is the top country in the world to have produced 60 K-Pop idols currently active in the Korean entertainment industries. Additionally, Japanese is the most popular language for K-Pop lyrics translations, making the Hallyu content more appealing to Japanese audiences.

Such strong glocalisation strategies implemented by K-industries are not surprising, given that Japan scores 96 on the potential Reach Power Index (0-100), which combines variables such as audience scope, purchasing power and a country’s trade position in the global market (See Figure 5). However, India, scoring 93 on the potential reach, offers an equally promising market for Hallyu consumption in the future, with its growing purchasing power.

Moreover, India is home to nearly 1.5 billion people with a median age of 28 years, compared to Japan’s aging population, which is at least 10 times smaller in size. Given that Hallyu is known for its young demographic, India’s young population and rapidly growing content consumption demands could be decisive in shaping strategic efforts to maximise Hallyu circulation in specific regions.

Conclusion: A platform for understanding Hallyu

The Hallyu Tracker provides an invaluable tool for academics, K-industries, and government agencies to understand better the factors driving the appeal of the Korean Wave. It can be used to design effective strategies for identifying and cultivating potential markets, engaging with global audiences, fostering stronger connections with fans worldwide, and measuring economic and social impacts across different regions. For academics, this data storytelling solution serves as an invaluable tool for inductive research, harnessing the power of AI and big data to deconstruct and demystify global cultural phenomena. It makes previously challenging, if not impossible, quantitative analysis accessible, allowing for broader generalisations and cross-country comparisons.

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Journal reference

Grincheva, N. (2022). Beyond the scorecard diplomacy: From soft power rankings to critical inductive geography. Convergence, 28(1), 70-91. https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565221079158