Lee Gyu-lee is a business writer at The Korea Times, focusing primarily on IT & telecommunications, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KOTRA. Prior to this, she has covered a wide range of cultural news, from film, television and K-pop to lifestyle and fashion.
'Squid Game' most favorite Korean drama in 2021: survey
A poster for the Korean thriller series "Squid Game" / Courtesy of Netflix
By Lee Gyu-lee
By Lee Gyu-lee
“Squid Game,” Netflix's biggest hit Korean original series, was the most popular Korean drama among global audiences in 2021, according to a survey on hallyu trends by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange, Monday.
In the survey of 8,500 people in 18 countries, including Thailand, India, the United States, France and Brazil, who have consumed Korean cultural content last year, the dystopian thriller series garnered the highest percentage by far among Korean dramas with 21.2 percent.
TvN's romance series “Crash Landing on You,” which ranked highest in the survey the year before with 9.5 percent, was voted the second this year with 2.2 percent, followed by the crime series “Vincenzo,” at 1.9 percent.
K-pop juggernaut BTS was named as the most popular K-pop artist for the fourth consecutive year, at 26.7 percent, which is more than double the ratio of runner-up BLACKPINK at 10.4 percent. Solo artist IU took the third spot with 2.8 percent.
For the category of actors, Lee Min-ho topped the ranking at 9.3 percent; for films, “Parasite” was the favorite at 10.3 percent; for animation, “Larva” was at 9.6 percent; and for online games, “PUBG: Battlegrounds” took 14.5 percent.
The people around the world surveyed viewed Korean content mostly through online and mobile platforms. YouTube was the favored channel for watching Korean dramas and enjoying K-pop, while Korean movie fans mostly used Netflix.
About six out of 10 respondents said hallyu content affected their consumption of Korean-brand goods and services. Forty percent of people even answered they are willing to use Korean-brand products or services even if they do not know much about them, up 7.4 percentage points from the previous year.
On the other hand, the percentage of those who perceive K-content unfavorably also increased by 6.3 percentage points to 30.7 percent. When asked why, 25.1 percent said Korean content was “overly commercialized,” while 22.7 percent said it threatened their local content industry.