South Korea Performing Arts Market

The declaration of 2023-24 as “Korea Visit Year” by the Korea Tourism Organization, and its ambitious plans to integrate K-culture and K-tourism and improve services for foreign tourists provides U.S. service providers with growing opportunities to support a growing variety of digital media providers eager to reach non-Korean audiences. There is also significant opportunity to provide services to provide entertainment services to domestic South Korean audiences. 

During the pandemic, the performing arts market in South Korea had been significantly impacted. Due to the social distancing measures, almost all live performances and events were canceled or postponed in 2020 and 2021. Since 2022, the South Korea performing art sales have been rising rapidly in the wake of the lifting of all pandemic restrictions. 

According to the Korea Performing Arts Box Office Information System (KOPIS), the South Korean performing art market was valued at USD 432.8 million in 2022, representing a roughly 43% increase from the pre-pandemic level in 2019.

In 2022, 14,447 performing shows and events drew over 13 million people. In terms of genre, musicals were trending. The musicals including ‘Rebecca’, ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’, and ‘Moulin Rouge’ were listed as the highest grossing musicals of the year. With the success of the big-budget licensed musicals and the tours of the original musicals such as ‘Lion King’, musicals occupied a 76% total market share followed by classic concerts (12 percent), theatrical plays (8 percent), and dances (3 percent). 

Thanks to the rising popularity of performing artists, increasing demand for performing arts driven by the popularity of new digital platforms such as social medias, games, and video streaming services, and the implementation of digital technology to the traditional performing arts, the sales of the performing arts market in South Korea is expected to grow to over USD 600 million according to a forecast by the Korea Art Management Service. 

There are increasing opportunities for U.S. performing arts companies and artists as South Korea is welcoming more diverse live performances. To enter the South Korean performing arts market, U.S. performing arts companies and artists must work with local performance planning and production agencies. Local agencies work with U.S. companies in three forms: tours of original performing arts, licensing, and joint production. Also, these companies provide an U.S. company with access to local consumers and promotional resources.

For more information, please contact the Commercial Service of the U.S. Embassy in Seoul at Office.Seoul@trade.gov.