Korea Culture and Tourism Institute Analysis Results Announced
50s Music Streaming Time Twice That of Teens
As the number of active fans in their 50s and 60s increases, this middle-aged group has emerged as major consumers in the K-pop market.
The music streaming time of people in their 50s is twice that of teenagers. They not only purchase concert tickets themselves but also mobilize their children, who are familiar with online reservations, demonstrating powerful ticket-buying power.
According to the "Changes in Mobile Music Content Usage Time from 2012 to 2022" analyzed by the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute on the 11th, the average monthly mobile device music streaming time for those aged 50 to 59 last year reached 1.98 billion minutes.
This is the third highest figure across all age groups, following those aged 19 to 29 (5.59 billion minutes) and 30 to 39 (4.35 billion minutes).
Compared to 1.05 billion minutes for the 13 to 18 age group, typically considered the main demand group for idol groups, the 50 to 59 age group's usage time is about twice as much.
This statistic was compiled by calculating the average monthly usage time of mobile music service apps per year based on Nielsen Media Korea's Korean Click data.
The Korea Culture and Tourism Institute stated, "The 13 to 18 age group had been a core user group of music apps following the 20s until 2017, but showed a clear decline in usage time from 2017. Last year, the 50s age group surpassed the 13 to 18 age group in usage time."
Looking at the year-on-year increase rate in usage time by age, those aged 50 to 59 increased by 172.0%, and those aged 60 to 69 by 205.2%, significantly exceeding the 146.8% increase of the 13 to 18 age group.
The surge in music streaming time among the middle-aged 50s and 60s is believed to be influenced by the trot audition craze that started after 2020.
Fans from the middle-aged group, such as Lim Young-woong and Lee Chan-won, who emerged from auditions, have massively entered the K-pop market. In particular, these fans, who enjoy various music genres, have opened their wallets wide, demonstrating strong purchasing power.
In fact, as of 3 PM on the 9th, Lim Young-woong entered 15 songs on Melon, the largest domestic music site’s 'Top 100' chart, including his new song "Morae Algaengi" (7th), "Sarang-eun Neul Domangga" (10th), "Urideul-ui Blues" (14th), and "Dasi Mannal Su Isseulkka" (16th).
Additionally, according to the "YouTube Music Chart and Statistics," the most popular domestic YouTube music video for the 23rd week (June 2 to June 8) was also Lim Young-woong’s "Morae Algaengi."
In April, the K League soccer match where Lim Young-woong performed the ceremonial first kick attracted 45,007 paid spectators, the highest number ever recorded in K League paid attendance, proving Lim Young-woong’s popularity.
Powerful ‘Ticket Power’ in the Concert Market
Singer Lim Young-woong, who served as the ceremonial kicker at the 2023 professional soccer K League 1 match between Daegu FC and FC Seoul held last April at Seoul World Cup Stadium. [Photo by Yonhap News]
According to Hanteo Chart, one of the indicators measuring fandom 'firepower,' first-week sales volumes recorded tens to hundreds of thousands of albums for Lim Young-woong (1.1 million copies), Kim Ho-joong (680,000 copies), Lee Chan-won (570,000 copies), and Young Tak (520,000 copies).
The 'Fan Connection' feature provided by Melon also confirms the strong fan power of those aged 50 and above. More than half of the fans connected with trot audition singers like Lim Young-woong (52%) and Kim Ho-joong (66%) are over 50.
Moreover, K-pop idol groups such as BTS (12%), Seventeen (10%), and Blackpink (12%) also have over 10% of their fans aged 50 and above, highlighting the presence of the middle-aged demographic.
The middle-aged group’s activity is also prominent in the concert market, considered one of the 'two pillars' of K-pop.
According to year-by-year concert ticket buyer age data compiled by Yes24, the proportion of buyers aged 50 and above sharply increased from 5.5% in 2019 to 9.7% last year.
This trend is also evident in the top 10 concert ticket sales. Last year’s top 10 concert ticket sales on Yes24 included performances with many middle-aged audiences, such as NCT Dream (1st), NCT 127 (2nd), Lim Young-woong (3rd-4th, 6th-7th, 9th-10th), and Cho Yong-pil (5th).
Considering that many children book tickets on behalf of their parents who are unfamiliar with online payments, the actual proportion of middle-aged concertgoers is estimated to be even higher.
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