Ahead of the ‘K-Culture on TikTok’ media briefing held on Aug. 26 at the Eliena Hotel in Seoul’s Gangnam district, TikTok Korea operations head Jaehoon Jung (정재훈) delivers welcoming remarks. [Photo by reporter Hojeong Lee]
The global spread of K-culture is translating into real spending in related industries such as beauty, food and tourism, and its economic ripple effect is expected to reach about 40.6 trillion won by 2030, an analysis showed.
TikTok on Aug. 26 held a media briefing titled “K-Culture on TikTok” at the Eliena Hotel in Seoul’s Gangnam district and released a report, “K-Culture on TikTok: Driving Global Economic Impact,” jointly researched with global management consulting firm Kearney.
The study combined a survey of 3,300 consumers aged 16 to 49 in 10 countries including the United States, Britain, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Brazil, France, Japan, Indonesia and Vietnam with an economic impact analysis. It covered six areas: K-pop, K-media and IP, K-beauty, K-food, K-fashion and K-tourism.
Jaehoon Jung (정재훈), head of operations at TikTok Korea, said he wanted to see what value the spread of Korean culture globally through TikTok brings back to the South Korean economy. He said the research began to examine it in the language of the economy, such as consumption, production and jobs, rather than simple popularity or buzz.
◆ Beyond content to spending… diagnosis of entry into ‘K-culture 4.0’
The report said the spread of K-culture has moved from broadcaster-led “K-culture 1.0” to “2.0” centred on social media and core fandoms, then through “3.0,” a popularisation stage driven by global online video services and streaming. It said the current phase has entered “4.0,” where short-form and user-generated content expand into spending.
In the past, consumption centred on the content itself such as dramas or K-pop, or purchases of albums, concerts and merchandise around specific artists. In a short-form environment, the report said, content serves as a touchpoint that spreads interest to surrounding industries such as beauty, food, fashion and travel.
Taehwan Jung (정태환), an associate partner at Kearney Korea, said the decisive change is that the object of interest no longer remains with content. He said K-pop idol dance challenges are 이어지 to K-beauty skincare routines, and that Korean food mukbang and recipe recreations, as well as tours of Korean convenience-store foods, have begun to lead further to travel planning.
The survey results also showed this trend. Some 88.7 percent of respondents said TikTok is a platform that helps them discover K-culture, and 69.5 percent said it contributes to increasing their interest in and preference for K-culture.
The study also looked at the share that links to spending after a participation stage of directly sharing or producing content. Some 61.4 percent of respondents said participating in K-culture content on TikTok increases their intention to spend. Another 55.7 percent said they have actually spent money on K-culture-related items after encountering related content.
◆ K-beauty leads direct effect… K-food drives production, K-tourism leads jobs
Kearney applied the results to consumption data by country and industry to estimate the scale of TikTok’s contribution to K-culture-related consumption.
K-culture-related consumption attributable to TikTok in 2026 was estimated at about 10.75 trillion won. By 2030, it projected an additional 3.17 trillion won in potential spending capacity through additional spending by existing consumers and conversion of new consumers, lifting total consumption to about 13.92 trillion won.
Including the effect of consumption attributed to South Korean industries spreading through the domestic supply chain, the production-inducing effect in 2030 was estimated at about 26.72 trillion won and the employment-inducing effect at about 118,865 people. The economic ripple effect, combining consumption spending and the production-inducing effect, was about 40.64 trillion won.
Differences by industry also emerged. In 2030, K-beauty was estimated to have the largest direct economic effect attributable to TikTok, at about 3.27 trillion won. The analysis said it reflects how spending, initially focused on sheet masks and basic cosmetics, is expanding to serums, ampoules, derma skincare and hair care.
K-tourism is expected to have the highest growth rate. Its direct economic effect is projected to rise about 44 percent, from about 1.75 trillion won in 2026 to about 2.52 trillion won in 2030.
K-tourism also had the largest employment-inducing effect at 30,384 people, the biggest among the six areas. That is because industries linked to tourism, such as accommodation and restaurants, transport, and cultural, sports and leisure services, are relatively labour-intensive.
The production-inducing effect was largest for K-food, at about 6.28 trillion won. It narrowly exceeded K-beauty at about 6.24 trillion won. Kearney said this reflects an industrial structure in which food production links to domestic supply chains such as raw materials and distribution.
In this way, direct consumption was largest in K-beauty, the production-inducing effect in K-food, and the employment-inducing effect in K-tourism.
◆ “Not GDP”… limits of the figures and remaining tasks
Still, the figures need to be distinguished from definitive forecasts of economic growth. Kearney said the 2030 number is a potential economic value calculated based on the survey results and existing trends. It also did not reflect future regulatory risks such as restrictions on teenagers’ social media use, or new businesses TikTok may 추진.
The production-inducing effect also does not mean gross domestic product or corporate revenue. It calculated the total output supported across the broader industry, including supply chains, when related consumption occurs, by applying industry-specific production-inducing coefficients from the Bank of Korea’s input-output tables. The employment-inducing effect also does not mean new hiring of about 118,000 people, but the scale of jobs that support the consumption volume.
There are also limits to the survey method. It estimated how much TikTok influenced the purchasing process for K-culture products by using consumers’ responses, their participation levels, and correlations with actual spending, meaning some results rely on respondents’ memory.
Jung said it cross-validated in several ways changes in actual spending according to individuals’ perceived TikTok influence in the purchase process and their participation levels. He added that there could be some errors in that it relies on survey participants’ memory.
Kearney pointed to two conditions for K-culture’s global popularity to translate into real domestic economic effects.
One is converting overseas interest into actual purchases. Even if awareness of a product or purchase intention is high, it may not lead to purchases due to issues such as local distribution networks, product information, reviews and delivery. It said a consumption path needs to be built from content exposure to booking, payment and delivery.
The other is increasing the share of overseas consumption that accrues to South Korean industries. Jung said that even if global consumption increases, it does not translate into domestic economic effects if spending does not accrue to South Korean brands and industries. He said it is important to strengthen exports and local distribution capabilities of South Korean brands and monetisation of content IP so a larger share of global spending returns to domestic industries.