How Do American Hallyu Fans Think?

Are you curious about how your fellow American Hallyu fans think? Well, KOCCA USA (The Korean Creative Content Agency) took all the guess work out of what is going on in fans heads, and basically broke down our thoughts on K-pop and K-drama with a survey they conducted late last year.

Who is the top in K-drama land? Which K-pop group has stolen our hearts? Where do we even find all of this stuff? Find out below!

Courtesy of KCON LA 2016

K-POP

Okay, first let’s look at the K-pop fans representing  in the U.S.! According to the KOCCA survey, most K-pop fans here are between the ages of 16-20 (53%), with 21-25 year olds (22%) taking a close second! Third place goes to the 26-30 year olds (9.2%)! So, generally speaking, we’re all young! That could be attributed to the fact that we grew up in the digital age, where it was so much easier to get our hands (or ears for that matter) on this stuff!

Most of the U.S. K-pop fans reside in (by order) California, Texas, New York, Florida and New Jersey! So far there’s already a KCON in 3 of the top 5 states, so it seems plausible that companies will take notice and expand to more states in the coming years! Keep it up fans! 😝

Courtesy of KCON LA 2016

Are we mostly veterans? Yes! Most American fans have been listening to K-pop for more than 5 Years (38%), with the second tier being fans who have listened for 1-2 years (15%). Hmm, so either you’ve been in the game for a while or you’re just joining us! But how did you hear about K-pop in the first place? A majority of participants said their friends introduced them (33%) while 24% say other Hallyu content introduced them, like Korean dramas or Korean variety shows! Way to be open to new experiences! Online posts about K-pop also introduced a pretty good percentage of you (6.7%), so hopefully our little blog helped in some way!

Now, how do you get your K-pop tunes? A whopping 64% of you watch the MV’s on Youtube! It must be to help get your favorite group’s videos those super-high view numbers for music show rankings, right? That’s dedication! Secondly, Spotify supplies the beats, with 10% of you using it as your source. And, wow, this is madness…so 49% of those who responded to the survey say that they listen to over 9 hours of K-pop per week! That’s a lot of airtime!

The biggest question of all! The one that all of your friends ask when you say you loooovvee K-pop! “What attracts you to K-pop?” Well, it isn’t just the pretty faces for U.S. fans! You need to be extremely talented to get our attention since 34.7% of you said that it was the choreography that attracted you, while 27% said it was the catchy rhythms. Still others said it was the appealing vocals (14%) followed by 12% marking other….other? That must be where the visuals counted! We see you ~

So who are the top ranked K-pop groups for the American market? Here are the top 5 in order of their popularity! BTS, EXO, GOT7, BIGBANG, SHINEE!….and VIXX comes in 6th! Yay! (Sorry we just had to add them in there! Starlights represent!)

K-DRAMA

Park Seo Joon

Now, let’s break down the K-drama addicts! U.S. K-drama fans actually had the highest number of participants! We can already see that K-drama dominates in the U.S. market! So, how long has the average American fan, well, been a fan? 59% say they’ve been watching for over 3 years! Good golly that’s a lot of drama!

33% of you said you learned about K-drama from K-pop or other Korean media, followed by 29% saying a friend recommended it to you. And once you found it, where did you continue to find it to satiate your K-drama cravings? A whopping 63% said they use steaming site, Dramafever! Viki is also a popular choice with 19% of you tuning in there, followed by 2.8% saying they get their fix through Netflix!

How many hours could one possibly spend watching K-dramas? Most of you (30%) watch over 9 hours of Korean drama per week….that is either a lot of binging or a lot of sneaking out during class/meetings/family dinners! The second place stats are not far behind with 20.5% saying they watch between 5-7 hours per week! Yowza!

So, when you do tune in, which genre do you lean towards? Well, 61% opt for romantic comedies, while 11% love them some melodrama. Historical dramas come in third place with 9.9% of you wishing to transport yourselves back to the Joseon era!

But why K-dramas? Why turn to them for comfort? Because you like the unique plots of course! 44% of you do anyway! Followed by those admiring the good acting (19%) and the more studious ones hoping it will help with learning Korean (12.5%). With that being said, which dramas stole your hearts last year? Here they are in order; Descendants of the Sun, Scarlet Heart Ryeo, W, Cinderella and Four Knights, Kill Me, Heal Me.

And the top actors that you want to watch everyday? The top 10 actors in order of popularity here in the U.S., are Lee Min-Ho, Lee Joon-Ki, Lee Jong-Suk, Song Joong-Ki, Ji Chang-Wook, Kim Woo-Bin, Park Bo-Geom, Kim Joo Hyun, So Ji-Sub and Gong Yoo, (though we’re sure the last ranking went up since Goblin aired! Lol).

Scarlet Heart Ryeo

So, there you have it! Were the results true to your experience as a K-pop or K-drama fan (or both) here in the U.S.? Be sure to make your voices heard and take part in KOCCA’s survey next year too! Until them, continue to enjoy the various entertaining contents from Korea!

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