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K-pop fans pick BTS, Taeyang, VIXX as 2014 favorites: KOCCA survey

December 18, 2014

By Tae Hong

K-pop idol group BTS, Big Bang vocalist Taeyang’s song “Eyes, Nose, Lips” and VIXX’s “Error” music video were U.S. fan favorites this year, according to a Korea Creative Content Agency survey released Thursday.

KOCCA, which conducted an online survey in November of 1,540 K-pop fans stateside to determine K-pop consumption in the American market, said 90 percent of those surveyed were female, most of them 16 to 25. KOCCA is the South Korean government’s cultural content agency under its Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The survey breakdown by age was 16 to 20 (49.4 percent), 20 to 25 (27.2 percent), 26-30 (7.6 percent) and 31 to 35 (4 percent).

According to the survey, K-pop fans spend a lot of time with what they love — 51.4 percent answered they spend more than 10 hours a week enjoying K-pop through videos and music, 23.4 percent said seven to 10, and 20.8 percent said three to six. Only 4.4 percent spent one to two hours a week on K-pop.

Among those surveyed, 39.6 percent had been fans of K-pop for more than five years; 24.4 percent answered more than three years; 26.8 percent said one to three years; and 8.2 percent said six months to one year.

YouTube dominated as the preferred vehicle of K-pop consumption, with 81.5 percent, followed by iTunes (8.3 percent) and Pandora (3.3 percent).

While 35.5 percent answered they liked the dance genre, 27.4 percent said they prefer hip-hop and rap.

A majority of fans said they liked K-pop because of well-synchronized performances and dances, as well as easily memorable and addictive rhythms. Other popular reasons included vocal talent, the variety of different members and fashion.

Fans’ favorite K-pop acts included BTS, a seven-member boy group that came in first with 199 votes, followed by EXO (119), VIXX (99), Winner (70) and GOT7 (68). Other picks included Super Junior, Infinite, Taeyang, 2NE1 and BEAST.

BTS member Jungkook winks at the crowd during performance. (NEWSis)

BTS member Jungkook winks at the crowd during performance. (NEWSis)

When it came to favorite songs of the year, Taeyang’s “Eyes, Nose, Lips” reigned with 116 votes, trailed by VIXX’s “Error” (84) and EXO’s “Overdose” (68).

But VIXX saw victory in music video preference — 157 people said “Error” was their favorite video of the year, followed by EXO’s “Overdose” (81), BTS’s “War of Hormone” (65) and Super Junior’s “Mamacita” (63).

Mnet’s “M!Countdown” led the pack of preferred K-pop TV programs, with 42.1 percent choosing it over SBS’s “Inkigayo” (27.7 percent), KBS2′s “Music Bank” (15.1 percent) and MBC’s “Show! Music Core” (10.3 percent).

Kim Il-joong, head of KOCCA’s U.S. office, said the survey showed K-pop fans have spread to a diverse audience in every region of the country.

“By taking these consumption and preference results and create plans based on them, we expect K-pop to grow even more,” he said.