K-Pop Industry Exceeds 15 Trillion Won in Revenue in 2024…Highest Record Ever

The revenue of South Korea’s popular culture and arts industry reached 15.3845 trillion won in 2024, setting a new record high. According to the “2025 Survey on the State of the Popular Culture and Arts Industry” released by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Content Agency, this figure represents a 34.5% surge compared to 11.4362 trillion won in 2022. This growth rate is the highest since the survey began in 2015.

Several factors drove this industry expansion. The number of registered companies in popular culture and arts planning increased from 3,758 in 2022 to 4,471 in 2024, while rising revenues from listed agencies and major large-scale agencies expanded the overall scale of the industry. Overseas revenue showed particularly strong growth. Domestic revenue for these planning companies amounted to 7.8020 trillion won (a 35.5% increase from 2022), while overseas revenue reached 1.7057 trillion won (a 61.7% increase).

The number of workers in this industry also increased. There were a total of 12,092 people working for planning companies in popular culture and arts, up by 737 people (6.5%) from 11,355 in 2022. By category, singers made up 5,020 people (41.5%), actors 4,709 people (38.9%), and broadcasters 1,264 people (10.5%). In contrast, the number of trainees showed a downward trend. There were 211 planning companies with trainees (4.7% of all such companies), and the total number of trainees was 963, down by 207 people (17.7%) from 1,170 in 2022.

The industry’s contract culture also improved. The rate of signing standard exclusive contracts with artists under contract reached 95.3%, up 4.5 percentage points from 90.8% in 2022. The written contract rate for production staff rose to 97.9%, indicating that standard contracting practices have been steadily established in the industry.

When looking at income structures, there is a difference between artists and staff. The average monthly personal income for popular culture and arts professionals was 3.151 million won, of which 1.507 million won (47.8%) came from artistic activities. The remaining amount came from other sources of income. In contrast, production staff earned an average of 3.275 million won per month, with 2.774 million won (84.7%) coming from their primary job in production. The Korea Content Agency stated that “as the industry grows, there has been increasing societal demand for a fair working environment, and efforts such as expanding standard contracts are yielding significant results,” but added that “protecting the rights of vulnerable groups like trainees and improving unfair contracts remain urgent challenges.”