 Allkpop.com is the most visited Korean entertainment news website, with 3 million visitors every month. / Courtesy of Allkpop |
By Cathy Rose A. Garcia It used to be just another website devoted to translating news about Korea’s hottest pop stars into English, but allkpop.com is now attracting U.S. advertisers who want to target young Asian-Americans.
Allkpop.com was started by Korean-Americans Johnny Noh and Paul Han in October 2007, and in just over three years, it has become the largest English language website for K-pop news in the world.
``We’ve actually been receiving quite a bit of interest from Korean companies who have been inquiring to advertise on allkpop, for their international businesses, and of course a lot of U.S.-based companies and advertisers who want to reach the Asian American demographic,’’ Noh, chief executive officer of allkpop’s parent company 6Theory Media, told The Korea Times in a phone interview.
The website delivers the latest news stories about K-pop stars like 2PM, Big Bang, TVXQ, Girls’ Generation and Kara, and occasionally, exclusive interviews and features.
Alongside the news, one can spot banner ads for American websites that specialize in travel, shoes, electronic gadgets accessories and fashion goods.
Noh said many American companies that advertise on allkpop are interested in the Asian-American demographic, although the website attracts a lot of non-Asian Americans. It has been growing exponentially, from 2 million unique visitors in early 2010 to 3 million by the end of the year.
``We’re at 3 million unique readers globally, and a big majority of them are not Korean, but rather, white, black, as well as Asians in their teens and at college,’’ he said.
While the advertisers are initially American companies, Noh notices more Korean companies are interested in placing ads on the popular site to increase their visibility among a young audience.
Allkpop received the Must-Follow Brand award at the fourth annual Mashable Awards, which recognize major achievements in digital and social media landscape as voted by the online community. Other winners included Apple’s iPad for Best New Gadget, iPhone for Best Mobile Device, Twitter for Breakthrough Website Design and Android for Best Mobile Platform. A gala event was held during the 2011 International CES conference in Las Vegas earlier this month.
``This year, allkpop competed against top brands such as, Disney Pixar, Playstation and WWE… I think this is yet another huge step in the globalization of K-pop and we're extremely excited about being at the fore-front of continuing to spread this Asian movement,’’ Noh said.
The Mashable Award helped create more recognition for allkpop, especially since the gala show was attended by a lot of executives from big multinational corporations and marketing groups.
This was the second time allkpop won a Mashable Award, the first time was for Best Breaking News Site in 2009. The website has helped create more buzz about K-pop in the U.S. and other countries.
Initially allkpop started as a hobby, but soon turned into a full-time business for Noh and Han. Now, the New Jersey-based 6Theory Media has expanded to a Japanese pop-oriented news website called Tokyohive, and will explore other areas in Asian pop culture as well.
``We’re currently expanding to other aspects of Asian culture as well. There’s a huge Asian population in the U.S., and the latest census will probably do to the Asian population what happened in the 2000 census for Latin Americans,’’ Noh said.
Hallyu or the Korean Wave does not seem to show signs of slowing down in Asia, and may even expand in the U.S. and Europe. K-pop stars Super Junior and Jay Park also received 2010 Mashable Awards for Must-Follow Personality and Best Web Video respectively.
Allkpop, Noh said, is extremely excited to be helping spread hallyu on a global scale and hopes to continue leading it in the future.
