BTS Ranks First as the Top Global K-Hallyu Keyword in 2024..Leading the Way with Self-Produced Content

BTS secured the first position among K-POP keywords in a 2024 global K-Hallyu trend analysis. According to the “2024 Global K-Hallyu Trend Analysis Report” released on the 13th by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Cultural Information Service, BTS recorded the highest mention rate at 13.4%. Various factors contributed to BTS’s high level of mentions, including members’ enlistment and discharge, Jungkook’s album releases and chart performance, and Jin’s participation in the torch relay. On an individual member basis, Jungkook (12th), Jin (13th), SUGA (15th), and Jimin (18th) also made it into the top rankings, demonstrating that members’ solo activities receive significant global attention. Behind BTS’s status as a global phenomenon lies its strategy of producing content independently from the beginning. In 2023, BTS’s V appeared on tvN’s “You Quiz on the Block” and recalled that “one of the key reasons for the group’s global success is self-produced content.” He said, “When we first debuted, there were few artists uploading behind-the-scenes videos regularly on YouTube, but we tried everything.” During the early days when the group faced difficulties appearing on major broadcasters, BTS established its own YouTube channel, “BANGTANTV,” and uploaded a variety of content such as vlogs, radio shows, eating videos, travel footage, and practice videos. These contents later served as a gateway for their global fanbase. Bang Woo-jeong, currently the CEO of Letopia Salon, is regarded as the figure who pioneered a structured approach to self-produced content in the K-POP industry. He joined what is now HYBE, Big Hit Entertainment, in 2010 to create content for the boy group 2AM. Leveraging his background in design and video production as well as his experience as an assistant director for music variety shows, Bang Woo-jeong established a system for self-produced content within the K-POP industry. Unlike traditional behind-the-scenes videos, the self-produced content he developed followed a structured, season-based format, prioritizing capturing authentic moments of the artists over broad entertainment value. Programs such as “BTS Festa,” created to mark BTS’s debut anniversary, and BANGTANTV’s weekly variety show “Run BTS” were all planned under Bang Woo-jeong’s guidance. As HYBE expanded, he served as the head of the creative studio at HYBE Media Studio.