Picture 1. SM Town World Tour III in Jakarta
Study from
previous post found that there was a high possibility that KPop had impact to local music industry. This time a study will try to take on the following question:
"What possibly drove or driven by the growth of KPop popularity?"
Summary
In summary, KPop popularity is driven by:
- Korean artists
Some notable artists were:
- Girls' Generation members: Seohyun (in Japan), Yoona (in Singapore), Jessica (Indonesia), Sooyoung (France)
- Supernova (Japan)
- 2PM (Indonesia)
- Onew (France)
- File/Media sharing services
Some notable services were:
- Dropbox and Soundcloud / youfeedme (various countries)
- Social Networking services
Some notable services were:
- Gumtree (Singapore)
- Airg (Philippines)
KPop popularity drove popularity of:
- Other Korean artists
Such as Supernova (Japan) and 2ne1 (Indonesia)
- File/Media sharing services
Such as Dropbox (globally) and $shared / 4shared (Indonesia)
- Transport Information (Singapore and USA)
- Korean-style products
Such as blazer (Indonesia), samsung mobile phones and winged eyeliner (USA)
- Payment solutions
Such as OCBC Velocity (Singapore)
Opinion
All the factors studied actually played both roles, however each of them was subjectively categorized into lagging (drove) or keeping up (driven by) factors based on its tendency against K Pop interest trend in the area.
Factors that drive popularity of KPop are certainly the product itself: KPop songs and Hallyu Stars who delivered the songs. Role to spread the news and the songs were done by social networking and file/media sharing services.
Factors that were driven by KPop, beside its less popular songs and artists, are the file/media sharing services that act as the bridge to spread the songs around the globe. People/fans who followed the artists will relatively care about their personality (including fashion style and stuff used) and have willingness to see them in person. This may the reason of trending Korean-style products, transport information, and in the end payment solution to cover all of the expenses.
Methodology
Analysis will be based on search term which has similar trending interest pattern with K Pop (excluding search which include term K Pop). Higher correlation (r) terms is more favorable.
Previous post discovered top countries where interest about KPop emerged. One common thing that the countries had was that KPop concert was held in those countries. One of the notable concert was "SM Town Concert". Hence, this time two other countries which had experienced the concert will be added to the analysis: USA and France (China is excluded since Google/the tool used is not the main search engine in the area).
Selected search terms will be allocated subjectively into 3 categories: Keeping Up Terms, Lagging Terms, and Either. Keeping Up Terms are terms which are ahead of K Pop trends (keeping up), while Lagging Terms are terms which are behind K Pop trends (lagging). Either are terms which sometimes kept up, but in some other times those lagged as well.
Tool (and data provider):
Google Correlate viewed on 4-5 October 2012.
Below are some findings in each region (selected terms only)
1. Japan (correlate with term: K Pop)
| Keeping Up Terms | Lagging Terms | Either |
ソヒョン
(seohyun)
r=0.9515 | ヤフー 路線
(yahoo route)
r=0.9519 | 超新星 ブログ
(supernova blog)
r=0.9461 |
soundcloud
r=0.9457
| ドロップ ボックス
(drop box)
r=0.9457
|
|
| ガーミン コネクト
(garmin connect)
r=0.9457
|
|
2. Singapore (correlate with term: K Pop)
| Keeping Up Terms | Lagging Terms | Either |
yoona
r=0.9245 | gothere.sg
r=0.9348 | android phone
r=0.9174 |
| bus timing
r=0.9275
shuttle bus
r=0.9225
|
gumtree
r=0.9210 |
| ocbc velocity
r=0.9186
|
|
3. Malaysia (correlate with term: K Pop)
| Keeping Up Terms | Lagging Terms | Either |
| soundcloud
r=0.9510 | blackshot
r=0.9679 |
|
| dropbox
r=0.9547 |
|
| samsung galaxy
r=0.9484 |
4. Indonesia (correlate with term: Lagu Korea)
| Keeping Up Terms | Lagging Terms | Either |
band korea
(korean band)
r=0.9541
boy band korea
(korean boy band)
r=0.9472 | $shared
r=0.9371 | rambut korea
(korean hair)
r=0.9349 |
girls generation
r=0.9452
snsd
r=0.9269
jessica snsd
r=0.9259 | 2ne1
r=0.9309
2 ne 1
r=0.9239 |
|
2pm
r=0.9250 | blazer korea
(korean blazer)
r=9234 |
|
5. Philippines (correlate with term: K Pop)
| Keeping Up Terms | Lagging Terms | Either |
airg
r=0.9459 | soundcloud
r=0.9510 |
|
6. USA (correlate with term: K Pop)
| Keeping Up Terms | Lagging Terms | Either |
www.dropbox.com
r=0.9603 | winged eyeliner
r=0.9587 | samsung galaxy phones
r=0.9512
|
download soundcloud
r=0.9522
|
| pace bus tracker
r=0.9512 |
7. France (correlate with term: K Pop)
| Keeping Up Terms | Lagging Terms | Either |
onew
r=0.8984 |
| feed me
r=0.8994
|
girl generation
r=0.8792 |
| dropbox
r=0.8701
dropbox
r=0.8689 |
sooyoung
r=0.8698 |
|
|
