Without one Netflix film, K-beauty is the fastest-growing Korean story in Western news

• K-beauty's share of news coverage in January to August 2026 was 14 times its level in the same months of 2017, against 9.5 times for K-pop once articles mentioning KPop Demon Hunters are removed
• With shopping and deals articles removed, K-beauty coverage was still 10.8 times its 2017 level, while sushi, the control topic with no Korean link, was 1.1 times
• UK Google searches for "korean skincare" in January to August 2026 were 15.9 times the same months of 2017

Take away one Netflix film and K-beauty is the fastest-growing Korean story in US, UK, Canadian and Australian news, according to a new data study from K-Crush (https://k-crush.com/korean-culture-western-media-data-study/). In January to August 2026, K-beauty's share of coverage was 14 times its level in the same months of 2017. K-pop without the film KPop Demon Hunters was 9.5 times. The study measures each topic against its own earlier level, not how much coverage one topic gets compared with another.

To check the method, the study also tracked sushi, a food topic with no Korean link. Its share in January to August 2026 was 1.1 times the same months of 2017. It barely moved, which shows the method does not inflate everything.

Beauty coverage is full of sale-event articles, so the study checked. Articles with shopping language such as deal, sale, Prime Day or discount were 43% of K-beauty coverage in 2025 and 34% in 2026 so far. With those articles removed, K-beauty was still 10.8 times its 2017 level. That is a conservative floor, because the word "sale" also catches phrases such as "sales figures".

K-pop coverage was 16.4 times its 2017 level, but the K-pop search also matches the title of the film. Articles mentioning KPop Demon Hunters were about half of K-pop coverage in 2025 and 42% in 2026 so far. Without them, K-pop was 9.5 times its 2017 level.

For August to October 2026, the study used PressPug, the media database, which collects articles from 76 major US, UK and Irish news and entertainment outlets. It compared KATSEYE and BTS. KATSEYE was the main subject of 1.9 times as many articles as BTS, and appeared in 1.4 times as many when passing mentions were counted. Both acts were measured from the same outlets over the same weeks, so the study reports ratios, not totals.

K-drama has levelled off. Its coverage share stepped up in autumn 2021 after Squid Game arrived on Netflix, and has stayed at that higher level since. January to August 2026 was 1.05 times the same months of 2025, which is flat.

March 2026 was the peak month for all K-pop coverage. On 15 March, KPop Demon Hunters won Best Animated Feature at the 98th Academy Awards, and its song "Golden" won Best Original Song. On 20 March, BTS released ARIRANG, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Even so, 55% of March K-pop articles mentioned the film. On the beauty side, Olive Young opened its first US store, in Pasadena, California, on 29 May 2026.

"It's hard to pin down one thing that sent K-pop through the roof. Was it the success of KPop Demon Hunters? BTS and a fandom that kept growing? Or newer groups like LE SSERAFIM, ILLIT, ENHYPEN and aespa bringing in a new wave of fans? Personally, I think it was a bit of everything. Our numbers show the film was about half of K-pop's coverage last year, but even without it, coverage has grown more than ninefold since 2017. The bigger surprise for us was skincare, which has grown even faster. You can now find Korean skincare in more than 60 Superdrug stores. Korean culture as a whole is having a moment, from the K-pop corners in HMV to Korean barbecue restaurants on the high street. K-everything is here to stay," said Hyunwoo, editor of K-Crush (https://k-crush.com/korean-culture-western-media-data-study/).

ENDS

If using this story, please credit and link to: https://k-crush.com/korean-culture-western-media-data-study/

Methodology

K-Crush (https://k-crush.com/korean-culture-western-media-data-study/) measured Western news coverage of Korean culture from January 2017 to August 2026. Historical coverage volumes: GDELT global news archive (2017-2026). Current outlet-level analysis: PressPug, the media database (Aug-Oct 2026).

• Sources are news outlets in four countries only: the US, the UK, Canada and Australia. Figures are for the four combined.
• The measure is share of coverage: articles mentioning the term per 1,000 general-news articles from the same countries, so changes in archive size do not distort it.
• Headline comparisons set January to August 2026 against January to August 2017.
• Google Trends is used as a direction check on search interest, not to compare the size of topics.