This is a scene from the 2024 Mokkoji Korea in October last year at Budapest Park in Budapest, Hungary. (Mokkoji Korea's official Facebook page)

By Margareth Theresia

Foreign consumers of Hallyu (Korean Wave) last year spent an average of 14 hours and USD 15.4 per month on such content.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on April 7 said this in reporting the results of a global Hallyu survey jointly conducted with the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange.

The study found that the average monthly consumption of Hallyu was 14 hours, up 2.4 from 2023 and included 17.5 on TV dramas and 17 on entertainment shows.

They spent USD 15.4 per month on such content, a rise of USD 4.9 from 2023, mostly on learning Korean (USD 31.7), followed by fashion (USD 31.2), beauty (USD 27.9) and food (USD 23.2).

On what came to mind first when thinking of Korea, K-pop (17.8%) topped the list for eight straight years since 2017, followed by Hansik (traditional food), dramas (8.7%), beauty (6.4%) and films (5.6%).

The majority 72.8% of respondents expressed an overall positive impression of Korea, close to the figure in the previous survey (72.9%).

On Korean cultural content, 70.3% said they liked it and 75.4% positively viewed the language, a new section to this year's study.

Turning to the popularity of Korean cultural content in their home countries, 53.7% of the respondents mentioned food, followed by music (51.2%), beauty (50.8%) and dramas (49%).

"Squid Game" remained the favorite K-drama for the fourth consecutive year with 9.7%. In film, "Parasite" (8.3%) was tops for the sixth straight year, Lee Minho (7%) was the most popular actor and BTS (24.6%) claimed the title of the No. 1 K-pop act.

Based on the survey, the ministry will devise policy measures to help Hallyu and related industries continue their growth.

margareth@korea.kr