Kpop group BTS pose for images upon their arrival for ‘BTS The Comeback Reside Arirang’ live performance in central Seoul, South Korea, on March 21, 2026.
Handout | By way of Reuters
On Friday, tens of 1000’s of BTS followers will descend on Busan, South Korea, because the seven-member group levels its second cease within the nation as a part of their world-spanning Arirang tour.
They’ll arrive with gentle sticks, banners and tickets — and cash to spend.
Popular culture making an financial influence isn’t new. The time period “Swiftnomics” grew to become shorthand for the influence of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, which crammed motels, eating places, and stadiums all over the world.
Now, South Korean brokerage NH Securities has a time period for BTS: Bangtan-nomics, a portmanteau of “Bangtan,” from the group’s identify in Korean, and “economics.”
NH described the fan spending pathway like this: on-line fandom first turns into streaming, albums and merchandise, earlier than widening into Korean magnificence, meals, style and finally tourism.
In a Might 21 notice, the brokerage mentioned 84% of worldwide ARMY — BTS’ fanbase — are of their teenagers and twenties. As they get older and purchase extra spending energy, these followers may then come to Korea and contribute to its financial system by way of tourism spending.
In reality, NH predicts that by 2040, BTS fan spending may contribute as much as 0.35 share factors per 12 months to South Korea’s GDP.
To place a quantity to that, 0.35% of South Korea’s 2024 nominal GDP is about $6.58 billion, in line with CNBC’s calculations.
Some early numbers for “Bangtan-nomics” are promising. South Korean media, citing authorities knowledge, mentioned followers who got here for the primary BTS live performance in April had been prone to keep longer and spend greater than vacationers who didn’t come for a live performance.
That is supported by a 2019 paper by Pyun Ju Hyun, professor of worldwide enterprise and economics at Korea College. Pyun discovered that BTS concert events held in South Korea attracted many international vacationers, producing extra spending within the nation.
Pyun’s paper, despatched to CNBC, surveyed international live performance attendees in Seoul, and located that 98% mentioned they deliberate to revisit Seoul throughout the subsequent 5 years. Two-thirds mentioned they deliberate to revisit Seoul 5 or extra instances throughout the subsequent 5 years.
For the concert events in Busan, demand for lodging spiked a lot that town’s authorities needed to step in to curb worth gouging amongst retailers and open up extra venues to deal with the huge inflow of followers.
Forecasting influence
Whereas it is affordable to count on BTS and the broader Hallyu wave to contribute to GDP, it’s “overly simplistic” to imagine this trajectory is assured, mentioned Natalia Grincheva, affiliate professor within the College of Artistic Industries at Lasalle Singapore.
Geopolitics is one danger. In 2016, China imposed a so-called “smooth ban” on Korean cultural exports after Seoul deployed the U.S. THAAD anti-ballistic missile system, proscribing performances from Okay-pop teams in nainland China.
Additionally, fan conduct is primarily pushed by emotional attachments, that are inherently unstable, Grincheva mentioned.
“[While NH’s] mannequin affords a believable trajectory, any credible forecast should account for these non-linear, disruptive elements relatively than assuming a easy financial pipeline from youth fandom to mature spending,” she mentioned.
Nonetheless, that does not imply Bangtan-nomics is imaginary.
Alongside South Korean movie, tv, magnificence and meals, it may contribute financial energy for a very long time, in line with Jonathan McClory, managing accomplice at Sanctuary Counsel and a soft-power specialist.
BTS is a “very profitable a part of a really profitable ecosystem,” he mentioned.
