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Korea's content experts predict rise of subculture, fall of mainstream at Trend Seminar

Published: 03 Dec. 2024, 20:26

YOON SO-YEON
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The Korea Creative Content Agency (Kocca) holds its annual year-end wrap-up and forecast Trend Seminar on Dec. 3 in central Seoul. [KOCCA]

Korea's culture and content industry is eyeing a new era where subcultures and subculture consumers emerge through the wide range of content services on offer. As a result, consumers will see less and less of “one champion” in both consumption and production, experts said at the annual Trend Seminar held Tuesday in central Seoul.

The Korea Creative Content Agency (Kocca) held its annual Trend Seminar on Tuesday, which is held every year and presents the agency’s year-end wrap-up report, which reviews the content industry over the past year, and reveals content experts’ forecasts for the upcoming year. Along with Kocca’s analysis of 2024 and outlook into 2025, insiders and experts in the industry took part in a roundtable discussion on the forthcoming year.

“The biggest trend will be that ‘there won't be one big trend,’” Yoo Hyun-suk, acting president of Kocca, said during his 2025 outlook session.

“What used to be considered ‘subculture’ has now become a mainstream pillar of the pop culture industry. It’s being loved by a wider range of consumers not just in music but games, too. People are listening to smaller bands, even J-pop and virtual idols, and gamers are opting for AI-created indie games, giving the spotlight to subculture games.”

Yu Hyun-suk, acting president of the Korea Creative Content Agency (Kocca) at the agency's annual year-end wrap-up and forecast Trend Seminar on Dec. 3 in central Seoul [KOCCA]

The proclamation came as one of eight keywords that Kocca chose as the dominating wave of 2025, which were: the "Next K," meaning that Korean content will endeavor to lose its “Koreanness”; expansion of the global consumer base; AI content production; a new creator base dubbed ‘neo creators’; cost-cutting production strategies amid economic uncertainties; the expansion of content fandoms; and the diversification of content distribution routes amid the continued birth of new online platforms.

The “dissolution” of the megatrend was also echoed by culture critic Kim Do-heon, who explained that the rising popularity of K-pop is the very evidence showing that subcultures are the new thing.

“The fact that K-pop made it in the global pop culture scene proves the power of subculture,” Kim said. “We have already witnessed the power of ‘small’ fandoms, which once were the size of BTS and its fan club ARMY. K-pop took over the void in the pop music market that was targeting the teens and 20somethings with the message of ‘dreams and hope,’ which has now led to groups selling over 1 million copies of their albums.”

Kim took the example of Blackpink singer Rosé’s collaboration with Bruno Mars in “APT.” to highlight the narrowing trend wave. The Blackpink singer’s collaboration with pop star Bruno Mars was released on Oct. 18 based on the Korean drinking game and became a worldwide hit, especially on online short-form video platforms.

The Korea Creative Content Agency (Kocca) holds its annual year-end wrap-up and forecast Trend Seminar on Dec. 3 in central Seoul. [KOCCA]

“'APT.’ is an example of how ‘macro-narratives’ are being divided into ‘micro-narratives’ that come together to spread subculture genres across borders, consequently forming ‘large subculture fandoms’ around the world,” he said.

Micro-narratives are also influencing content producers, who have to distribute the same content in different formats via different platforms, according to Ko Joong-seok, co-CEO of Egg Is Coming.

Egg Is Coming is a local television production studio founded in 2018 by famed producer Nah Yung-suk that has created entertainment shows “Earth Arcade” (2022-24) series, “Nana Tour with Seventeen” and more. For “Nana Tour with Seventeen, Egg Is Coming released six 60-minute episodes on tvN but made episodes that were 125 minutes, 177 minutes and even 191 minutes long for when they were released on Weverse, a fandom platform.

“Seventeen’s fandom Carat loved it,” Ko said. “We distribute our content in different forms depending on whether it’s on television, over-the-top online streaming services or YouTube. Our goal is to make content that’s suitable for any platform that we can reach out to.”

The Korea Creative Content Agency (Kocca) holds its annual year-end wrap-up and forecast Trend Seminar on Dec. 3 in central Seoul. [KOCCA]

The rising trends that dominated 2024 — the use of AI in content creation, the expansion of consumers from all over the world and the importance of dedicated fandoms of specific genres — will also grow stronger, according to Song Gin, general director of the content policy research center at Kocca.

“AI is definitely being used to create content, but the vast majority of companies still do not aggressively use AI,” she said. “But our statistics show that the percentage of companies using AI almost doubled compared to a year ago. Companies are also aware of the efficiency and productivity of AI, which gives us a glimpse into the possibility of diverse content productions using AI.”

The government will endeavor to expand its funds for pop culture to spur the growth of the Korean content market, according to Yune Yang-soo, the director of the culture industry policy division at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

“I believe that just as semiconductors are the cherry of Korea’s manufacturing industry, the content industry could become the staple of Korea’s service industry,” Yune said. “The ministry has been keeping busy developing new projects and supporting existing ones for the industry, and we hope to continue the growth into the next year.”

BY YOON SO-YEON [[email protected]]