"TikTok is not a social network (SNS) but a content platform where more than 100 million new videos are uploaded every day. As major hashtags (#) for Korea-related posts such as K-pop, K-beauty, and K-food surged 1,300% on TikTok over the past three years, it is contributing to the global spread and consumption of Korean culture."
Chung Jae-hoon, head of operations at TikTok Korea, said at "2025 TikTok Media Day," held at CGV Cheongdam Cine City in Gangnam District, Seoul, on the 18th, "Next year as well, TikTok will reinvent itself as the leading promotion platform that distributes Korean content and culture to global markets."
Chung said, "K-culture is not a fleeting fad in a specific region but is growing simultaneously across diverse cultural spheres and will continue to grow," adding that TikTok will build a collaboration model that combines the competitiveness of Korea's content intellectual property (IP) with the participation of the TikTok fandom and will actively support the global expansion of domestic corporations through TikTok.
Analyzing data from more than 70 countries worldwide, including Korea, TikTok found that about half of K-culture-related hashtag posts created in the past three years were generated in the last 12 months. Chung said, "If views are generally an indicator that shows simple consumption, the number of hashtag posts is an indicator that shows user participation," adding, "Because creating and uploading a video requires far more effort, care and passion than watching one, you have to look at the number of posts to gauge the fandom's engagement."
In fact, of 2 million new posts with the K-beauty hashtag over the past three years, 1 million—half—were created in the last year, and among these, K-skin care posts were tallied as 60% newly created within a year. K-fashion, K-food and K-pop also saw about 50% of related posts created this year.
Chung said, "This means Korean food, fashion and music have not merely been topics of interest but have taken root as objects of participation that spread as users around the world try, wear and share them directly," adding, "In fact, 86% of U.S. TikTok users and 76% of users in Southeast Asia, including Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, said they learned more about Korean culture through TikTok."
This interest and participation is also translating into actual consumption. According to TikTok, sales of Korea-related products such as K-beauty on TikTok's e-commerce platform "TikTok Shop" are recording unprecedented rapid growth.
Matty Lin, general manager of global business solutions at TikTok Korea, said, "TikTok is a bridge connecting Korean brands and global markets," adding, "We cannot disclose specific figures, but recently K-beauty brands have been cited as the best-performing brands in the U.S. beauty category."
Launched in 2021, TikTok Shop is a commerce platform that enables everything from viewing content to payment and delivery. It has grown rapidly through shopping recommendations linked to short-form content. Starting in Indonesia, it has expanded to the United States, the United Kingdom, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines, and in the U.S. it has emerged as the third most influential shopping platform for Generation Z (born from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s) after Amazon and others. Lin explained, "TikTok Shop provides a differentiated purchasing experience through a so-called 'infinite loop' structure that leads from product discovery to purchase and diffusion."
TikTok Shop has not yet entered the Korean market, but numerous corporations, including Samsung Electronics, are rushing to join TikTok Shop worldwide. Because TikTok Shop is growing rapidly in the U.S. and Southeast Asian markets, the business opportunity is large.
Lin said, "For K-brands, TikTok Shop is a gold mine with great growth potential," forecasting, "By 2030, the business opportunities created by the K-wave (Hallyu) will reach $198 billion (about 292 trillion won)." According to TikTok, users with experience purchasing K-beauty or K-food products on TikTok Shop account for 53% of the total, and 66% of users was found to be willing to purchase on TikTok Shop in the future.
Lin added, "We plan to expand TikTok Shop to Europe, Japan and South America," and said, "If Korean brands want to enter these markets during this process, we will support opening local TikTok Shops." TikTok is also operating "TikTok One," a creator collaboration tool that helps corporations easily promote and sell products within TikTok, and the AI-based "TikTok Symphony."
In addition, TikTok announced it will invest $2 billion (2.8 trillion won) annually to strengthen the platform's trust and safety. Yang Soo-young, partnerships manager on TikTok's Northeast Asia trust and safety team, said, "We developed technology in the trust and safety field and strengthened the workforce for content review and management," adding, "We applied protections tailored to teen ages and advanced the Family Pairing feature that allows guardians to manage their children's usage environment."