#Industry structure
12 posts
- 🇰🇷 Korea·August 8, 2026·8 min readBuldak Ramen: 82% of Samyang Revenue Is OverseasSamyang Q1 2026: revenue 714.4bn won (+35%), operating profit 177.1bn (+32%). Europe grew 215%. Why your packet is not the one sold in Korea.
- 🇰🇷 Korea·August 8, 2026·9 min readKorean Hangover Drinks: Which Ones Are ProvenSince January 1, 2025 a pack needs human trial evidence to print the words hangover relief. A market survey found 177 products; 39 firms had the data.
- 🇰🇷 Korea·August 8, 2026·9 min readKorean Apps That Won't Let Foreigners Sign UpPrepaid SIMs and eSIMs fail Korean phone verification, blocking delivery app sign-up outright. What Baemin opened in 2024 and 2026, and what stays shut.
- 🇰🇷 Korea·August 8, 2026·8 min readHow a Korean Plush Toy Crosses a BorderCharacter Licensing Fair 2026: 186 companies, 443 booths. Last year drew 388 overseas buyers from 16 countries and 37 billion won in expected contracts.
- 🇰🇷 Korea·August 8, 2026·10 min readWhat Is a Homma? Inside K-pop's Fansite EconomyMost high-res idol photos come from fans, not agencies. What a slogan towel and 500 photobooks earn, and three unsolved problems: rights, tax, privacy.
- 🇰🇷 Korea·August 8, 2026·10 min readWhy K-Dramas Blur Knives — and Why the Same Actor Is Unblurred on NetflixKorean broadcast dramas put a mosaic on knife blades and smear brand logos. The same production team's Netflix series does neither. The dividing line is not violence but jurisdiction: broadcast gets post-transmission review, streaming has self-rated since June 2023.
- 🇰🇷 Korea·August 8, 2026·10 min readSixteen Episodes Is Now Statistically Wrong — Korean Dramas Averaged 12.5 in 2025Guides to K-drama still call 16 episodes the standard. In 2025 Korea scheduled 85 dramas totalling 1,059 episodes: 12.5 each. Sixteen came from twice a week for eight weeks, and ad and placement contracts were priced on that block. The 2026 forecast is 104 titles and 1,358 episodes.
- 🇰🇷 Korea·August 8, 2026·10 min readThe Coffee Candy in Your K-Drama Was Not Sold in Korea When You Saw ItKopiko started appearing in tvN dramas in 2021, but it did not reach Korean convenience stores until February 2024. Korean product placement is capped by law at a quarter of the frame, 30 seconds per brand, 5% of airtime — and a lot of it is aimed at viewers outside Korea.
- 🇰🇷 Korea·August 8, 2026·9 min readFrom Webtoon to tvN Drama — Why Casting News Comes 18 Months Before AirLee Chae Min and Roh Yoon Seo reunite for a webtoon-based time-loop romance on tvN, airing in 2027. Here is the pipeline, and why the gap runs that long.
- 🇰🇷 Korea·August 8, 2026·9 min readK-Drama PPL: One Quarter of the Screen, by LawThe Broadcasting Act caps placement at 5% of run time, 30 seconds a brand, a quarter of the screen. From October 2026 it becomes a third. A slot: 1bn won.
- 🇰🇷 Korea·August 8, 2026·10 min readKorean Photo Booths: Four Brands, Not One GenreInsaeng Nekeot has 374 branches, Photoism 369, Photo Signature 206, Haru Film 116. Sector revenue grew 2.4x in four years while closures grew 3.5x.
- 🇰🇷 Korea·August 8, 2026·10 min readSM's Q2: 349.6 Billion Won and 13 ComebacksRevenue rose 15.4% but album and streaming revenue fell; concerts were up 23.6% and merch 22.0%. aespa's new tour covers 25 regions, none of them in Asia.