Cultural Production of Hallyu in the Digital Platform Era

Cultural Production of Hallyu in the Digital Platform Era explores how histories, industry structures, and politics interact in the platformization of the Korean Wave. Dal Yong Jin argues that while much research centers on the Korean culture takeover and the dominance of Korean products on premier global media platforms, Korean cultural industries also experience reshaping and changing depending on the platforms, often on the global stage.

Addressing the increasing significance of digital platforms, this work examines the transformative roles of over-the-top streaming services—Netflix, Viki, and V Live—video-sharing platforms such as YouTube, social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, and the power relations between content producers, information technology sectors, the government, creative laborers, and audiences in the globalization of Korean culture and media. By developing critical cultural industries studies as a new theoretical framework, Cultural Production of Hallyu in the Digital Platform Era explores the ever-growing Korean Wave phenomenon with the advent of global digital platforms.

About the author

Dal Yong Jin is Distinguished Professor at Simon Fraser University. He is the author of Smartland Korea: Mobile Communication, Culture, and Society (2017) and is the co-editor of The South Korean Film Industry (2024).

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Critical Cultural Industries Studies: A New Approach
3. The Evolution of the Korean Cultural Industries
4. Cultural Industries Policy in Korea’s Cultural Production
5. Netflix’s Effect on the Local Cultural Industries
6. Local Fan Music Platforms, Global YouTube, and K-pop
7. Platformization of the Korean Wave
8. Conclusion: Sustainability of Korean Cultural Production

Source: publisher’s website