Europe saw an increase in fans in 2022 compared to the previous year. The number of Hallyu fans on the continent reached about 13.2 million, an increase of 37% compared to 2021.
The main factors driving Hallyu’s growth are the success of Korean content on global broadcasting platforms and the increasing number of Korean Wave fan clubs.
The addictive songs, creative choreography, and messages behind the K-pop lyrics are all reasons that contribute to the interest in Korean culture. Other factors include the style of clothing that is perceived as fashionable, the economic and cultural development paradigm and the emphasis on respect and family.
The number of fan clubs reached 1,684, up 120% from 757 in 2012. The Korea Foundation said the clubs have resumed offline activities that were suspended during the pandemic.
However, among the five regions, Europe has the lowest average intention to pay for Hallyu content at 34.9%, an increase of 5% from the previous year’s survey. Similar to the previous year, participants in the UK and Turkey showed a relatively high intention to pay for content, while participants in Russia reported the lowest intention, not only in the region, but also in all countries surveyed.
The willingness to pay for content in the UK increased by around 17% compared to the previous year. By content type, intention to pay for movies, Kdramas, and games was generally high, while entertainment software and webtoons were low in all four countries surveyed.
On the other hand, the intention to pay for music was significantly low in Turkey, which differs from the average trend.
BTS was the most popular K-pop group in Europe as well, with three countries surveyed scoring higher preference ratings compared to the previous year. PSY and BLACKPINK rank after BTS, although there is as big a gap in the top spot as there is in America.
In addition, RM, Jungkook, Jimin, and Lisa entered the chart in every country, indicating the great popularity of individual members of BTS and BLACKPINK.
In terms of actors, unlike the previous year, Lee Min-ho ranked first in the four countries surveyed. However, Lee Min-ho’s overwhelming popularity in Turkey remained the same as the year before.
In France, Gong Yoo ranked first, followed by Lee Minho, Lee Jung Jae, and Suji.
Besides, Jung Ho-yeon was in the ratings of four countries and Lee Jung-jae in two countries, indicating the influence of Squid Game’s popularity on actors’ preferences, such as in America.
In contrast to the previous year, European countries surveyed showed similar preference trends for most content. When it comes to Kdramas, Squid Game ranks first, which confirms the overwhelming preference for Kdrama in all countries.
Squid scored high preference scores of around 35% in France, the UK and Turkey.
In Russia in particular, more than half of the respondents (53.7%) chose Squid Game as their favorite Kdrama. In terms of movies, Parasite and Train to Busan hold the first and second places, respectively, across all countries.
The 19-year-old’s film was ranked No. 3 in France and Russia, showing that he remains a favorite in Europe.
When it comes to gaming, Battlegrounds has ranked first in three countries, with the exception of France; Ragnarok was most popular in France. As for anime characters, The Haunted House ranked first in France and Russia, and Pororo, Super Wings, and Pokka were also popular.
Korean food and Kbeauty were the most popular, with a response rate of 38.8% each, followed by music, fashion and games, with response rates over 30%.
At the same time, the average popularity index in Europe was also the lowest among all regions, mirroring last year’s results.
Entertainment, Kdrama, Food and Movies scored 70-80% preference, while other content categories scored 60-70% preference. As in other regions, music has high popularity and low popularity.
For entertainment programmes, movies and animation, satisfaction with the quality of the content itself was the main preference factor. On the contrary, Korea-related elements have almost no effect on the games’ popularity, as has been observed in other regions.
Instead, the games’ advantage factors included high-quality graphics and visuals, a wide variety of devices and genres, and the ability to communicate with other players.
To learn the language, the difficulty of the Korean language and the inconvenience of dealing with subtitles, subtitles, and dubbing were major factors that hurt the popularity of the language.
For Kdramas and Music, standardization of content was a major barrier to preference.
However, France’s K-pop engagement rate has declined every year since 2017, falling 0.6% in this survey compared to the previous year.
Correspondingly, the association rate of Hallyu stars increased by 2.6% and rose five places from seventh place in the previous year. IT products/brands ranked third in France and fourth in the UK and Russia, indicating strong awareness across most of Europe.
What do you think of these results?
“Food trailblazer. Passionate troublemaker. Coffee fanatic. General analyst. Certified creator. Lifelong music expert. Alcohol specialist.”