Korean Cartoons Rule Thailand’s Market

In Thailand, half of the cartoons read by comic lovers are Korean contents. Not only in Thailand, the Korean cartoons are massively popular in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Indonesia, and Vietnam also occupy more than 40%. The most popular Korean cartoon in these areas was “Solo Leveling”.

According to the report ‘2023 K-Content Overseas Expansion Survey’ released by the Korea Creative Content Agency on Feb. 12, Thailand is the most frequently consumed Korean comic, with 47% of respondents answered they have read Korean cartoons. The survey was conducted for nine countries including the U.S., France, China, Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Russia, and the UAE.

The results are based on a survey of 1,516 readers who have encountered or are aware of Korean comics content in the last three years in countries where the Korea Creative Content Agency operates overseas.

Thailand was followed by the UAE at 45%, Indonesia at 44.7%, Vietnam at 40.9%, China at 37.7%, the US at 35.6%, France at 23.7%, Russia at 22.9%, and Japan at 19.5%.

In Southeast Asia, where K-pop and other Korean cultural content are popular, comics are more likely to be read regularly and paid for. In Vietnam, 85.4% of respondents said they regularly consume Korean comics. In Thailand, 82.9% of respondents said they read Korean comics regularly.

In Indonesia, 67.5% of readers said they paid to access Korean comics. In Vietnam and Thailand, the percentages were 60.1% and 58.3%, respectively. When asked which works they watched most often, “Solo Leveling” topped the list. It was followed by “True Beauty”, “Lookism” and “Tower of God.”

Navkiran Dhaliwal is a seasoned content writer with 10+ years of experience. When she’s not writing, she can be found cooking up a storm or spending time with her dog, Rain.