Viral short-form videos help Hallyu-related brands expand overseas: TikTok white paper

The Hallyu market formed with Korean Wave-influenced products and services is forecast to grow to $143 billion in the US, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam by 2030 with additional unrealized headroom of $55 billion, according to TikTok.

The forecast represents an 87 percent growth from the current $76 billion spent on Korean products and services in those four countries.

TikTok Korea held a press conference Monday in Seoul to review its white paper entitled “Hallyu in the Digital Age: Short Content, Big Impact,” prepared jointly with Kantar, a marketing data and analytics company.

The white paper includes a survey of 2,018 consumers aged 18 to 45 from the US, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand conducted in April. The four countries were chosen for the survey due to the significant size of their Hallyu-related consumption

This year will be a breakthrough year for Korean brands to expand their business overseas, as Hallyu is now especially exerting global cultural influence with the help of viral short-form videos, according to the white paper. In particular, four countries — the US, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand — have high Hallyu receptivity and market potential.

According to Kantar, 86 percent of American and 76 percent of Southeast Asian TikTok users among the 2,018 platform users who took part in the survey for the white paper responded that they had learned more about Korea through the platform.

"In the past, Hallyu used to be divided into different categories such as beauty, food and drama. The Hallyu market is now benefiting from what we call the ‘Halo effect’ that demolishes the boundaries between these industries,” said Cha Sang-hoon, head of digital and media at Kantar. “K-beauty, K-food and K-content play a critical role in promoting Hallyu further by creating unique interdependence between those industries, thereby inducing people to purchase Korean products.”

The white paper points out beauty, food and beverage and media such as K-pop, TV dramas and webtoon as Korean industries with high growth potential.

TikTok claims that its platform is essential for companies to seize business opportunities as they can expose their products to TikTok to users who are Hallyu fans, expand overseas through TikTok Shops and use viral short-form videos created by Hallyu fans as voluntary ambassadors to promote their brands.

“Now is the era of short-form content that provides an immersive experience in a short time. We hope Korean brands will use TikTok to create business opportunities in the global market based on the insights on how to succeed in the markets with high growth potential,” said Son Hyun-ho, general manager of TikTok Korea global business solutions.