March 12, 2026<\/p>\n
SEOUL \u2013 With BTS\u2019 full-group comeback less than two weeks away, Chinese fan communities have recently announced large-scale promotional campaigns that will dominate some of Seoul\u2019s most visible digital billboards.<\/p>\n
Jungkook\u2019s official Chinese fan club said it will broadcast a congratulatory video for the singer\u2019s comeback on the 60-meter landmark megascreen at the Koreana Hotel in central Seoul from March 20 to 22. Chinese fan club Baidu V Bar has planned an even larger campaign for V, securing the massive LUUX digital billboard on the exterior of the Dong-A Media Center in Gwanghwamun, where the video will run 70 times from early morning until midnight on March 21.<\/p>\n
While the exact costs are undisclosed, industry estimates suggest Jungkook\u2019s fan club spent between 30 million won ($22,000) and 45 million won over three days. V\u2019s fan club is believed to have purchased a high-frequency \u2018one-day special package,\u2019 costing roughly 20 million to 35 million won for a single day.<\/p>\n
As fan support campaigns increasingly reach tens of millions of won, the influence of fandoms from wealthier markets has grown. Their power extends beyond advertising projects to album purchases, merchandise sales and concert attendance.<\/p>\n
In that sense, Korean fans \u2014 despite being based in K-pop\u2019s home country \u2014 often lag behind Chinese and Japanese fans in terms of direct spending power. Financial influence has, in many ways, placed fans in those countries on a more parallel footing with what was once the dominant fan base.<\/p>\n
Data from Luminate shows Korean music, including K-pop, ranked fourth in the global streaming market in 2025 \u2014 an indicator that influence over key industry metrics has increasingly shifted toward international audiences.<\/p>\n
\u201cKorean fans are slowly losing power because the opportunities for K-pop to make money are outside Korea, especially touring, which is far more lucrative than other activities,\u201d said Mathieu Berbiguier, a visiting assistant professor in Korean Studies at Carnegie Mellon University. \u201cIn the end, it\u2019s capitalism. Companies ultimately have to consider where the financial gains are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Data released earlier this year by Korea Customs Service and Circle Chart show that Japan remained the largest export market for K-pop in 2025, accounting for $80.6 million in music exports. China ranked second with $69.7 million, followed by the combined US and European markets with about $64 million.<\/p>\n
Japan remains the industry\u2019s most lucrative market due to premium streaming subscriptions and high-priced concert tours, though growth has slowed. China, meanwhile, recorded a 16.6 percent year-on-year increase in sales, driven largely by organized fan communities known as \u201cbars\u201d that coordinate bulk purchases of albums and merchandise.<\/p>\n
By reclaiming second place in export rankings ahead of the US, China has re-emerged as a major cash-generating market that K-pop companies cannot afford to ignore.<\/p>\n
The ability to run promotional campaigns worth tens of millions of won in the heart of Seoul demonstrates both the scale of Chinese fans\u2019 economic power and the growing influence they hold in the industry today.<\/p>\n
Despite this shift, Korean fans continue to wield significant influence in other ways. They dominate music show voting, streaming on domestic platforms and participation in broadcast events.<\/p>\n
While international fandoms help expand the industry\u2019s financial scale through streaming numbers and global tours, Korean fans often exert influence through public pressure \u2014 including truck protests, wreath demonstrations and coordinated online campaigns that can directly affect a company\u2019s reputation.<\/p>\n
One example came in August 2024, when BTS member Suga was involved in an electric-scooter drunk-driving incident that sparked a clash of values between Korean and international fans.<\/p>\n
Many Korean fans demanded his departure from the group, arguing that drunk driving is widely regarded in Korean society as a serious crime akin to a \u201cpotential act of murder.\u201d Protest trucks and wreath displays were sent to Hybe\u2019s headquarters in Seoul.<\/p>\n
International fans, however, strongly opposed the idea, emphasizing BTS\u2019s long-standing message that the group is complete only with all seven members. Their support ultimately helped maintain the group\u2019s lineup as BTS prepares to return as a full group.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think sometimes Korean fans feel a bit hopeless when they believe companies will cater more to wherever the money is,\u201d Berbiguier said. \u201cIt happens a lot in Japan as well. K-pop companies create more merchandise and concerts there because they know fans will spend more.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"March 12, 2026 SEOUL \u2013 With BTS\u2019 full-group comeback less than two weeks away, Chinese fan communities have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":334676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[146,85,46,1437,231,409,11471,709],"class_list":["post-334675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-japan","tag-lifestyle","tag-music","tag-south-korea","tag-the-korea-herald"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=334675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/334676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}