A new study suggests that the expansion of Hallyu content has entered a phase in which it extends beyond 게임룸 토토 spaces into physical experiences and then circulates back into the 게임룸 토토 realm. The analysis indicates that attention and participation formed online are increasingly translating into real-world visits, experiences, and consumption, thereby reinforcing perceptions of content and brand value.

These findings were presented in an analytical report on KPop Demon Hunters published in Culture Information Issue Report No. 2025-9 by the Korea Culture Information Service Agency (KCISA). Using the animated film KPop Demon Hunters as a case study, the report structurally analyzes how contemporary Hallyu content expands into offline spaces through a cultural big data–driven diffusion framework.

Dr. Jun Lee, PhD in Cultural Contents Studies and Lecturer in the Department of Culture Contents at Hanyang University ERICA, who authored the report, explained that the recent spread of Hallyu content can no longer be understood solely through view counts or audience metrics. By integrating unstructured data—such as comments, short-form reactions, memes, and user-generated content—with structured data including platform statistics, attendance records, and tourism mobility data, the study captures with greater precision how digital interest is converted into concrete actions and spatial visits.

The report identifies KPop Demon Hunters as a case that most clearly demonstrates this diffusion structure. Following its release, the work achieved widespread online circulation through global viewership, music consumption, and short-form engagement, which was subsequently followed by a series of expansions into physical spaces such as theme-park collaborations, exhibitions, and pop-up tours. The report characterizes this process as a circulation structure progressing from 게임룸 토토 diffusion and expanded participation to physical experience and enhanced brand value.

Survey results from visitors to Everland and the National Museum of Korea were also included in the report. The findings indicate that prior interest and participation formed in 게임룸 토토 environments heightened satisfaction with offline experiences and deepened understanding of the narrative world, ultimately contributing to more favorable perceptions of the content IP. This demonstrates empirically that experiences accumulated at 게임룸 토토 touchpoints strengthen immersion in physical spaces.

The report further categorizes cultural big data into structured, unstructured, and hybrid data. Beyond structured indicators such as streaming figures and visit records, unstructured data generated through short-form reactions, fan-community discourse, and processes of narrative interpretation function as core indicators explaining the spread of Hallyu. Such data are also being utilized as foundational references for planning exhibitions and experiential spaces.

A particularly notable finding of the report is that the full value-creation cycle is completed only when the expansion of Hallyu content does not stop at the transition from 게임룸 토토 to physical, but instead circulates back into the 게임룸 토토 domain. In the case of K-Pop Demon Hunters, 게임룸 토토 participation and physical experience were shown to operate in parallel, with physical experiences feeding back into renewed 게임룸 토토 interpretation and redistribution. In this process, fan participation evolved beyond consumption into acts of interpreting and reconstructing the narrative world, and this shift from participation to interpretation further intensified perceptions of content value.

The KPop Demon Hunters collaborations at Everland and the National Museum of Korea’s merchandise (MD) initiatives related to the project were presented as the clearest examples of this circulation structure in action. The report analyzes that when a popular-culture property such as KPop Demon Hunters encounters spaces and contexts of traditional culture, it generates value that surpasses mere experience by facilitating cultural interpretation and meaning-making. In other words, engagement with traditional culture serves as a key factor in expanding the symbolic depth and interpretive potential of digital content.

By contrast, Namsan Tower, frequently cited as a representative site among the so-called “Eight Scenic Sites of KPop Demon Hunters,” was described by Dr. Jun Lee as a case in which the digital–physical–digital virtuous cycle was not completed. Visits to Namsan Tower tended to be consumed primarily at the level of physical experience, with no clear subsequent conversion back into digital content. Dr. Lee attributed this to the absence of sufficient narrative and cultural mechanisms that would allow the site to be re-expanded and reinterpreted as digital content, unlike the cases of the National Museum of Korea or Everland. He added that when circulation halts at the physical stage, visits or experiences may occur, but sustained value creation and diffusion are difficult to achieve.

Based on this analysis, Dr. Jun Lee emphasized that “if the impact of KPop Demon Hunters is to extend beyond a one-off event, the digital–physical–digital circulation structure must be intentionally designed.” He noted that “establishing mechanisms that enable experiences in physical spaces to flow back into digital content, interpretation, and participation is a key determinant of the sustainability of future Hallyu expansion,” describing this case as important evidence for anticipating the future trajectory of Hallyu.

Dr. Lee concluded that “Hallyu content is no longer something that is consumed and ends in digital space alone; rather, it operates within a complex structure that circulates back into the digital realm through physical spaces and cultural interpretation,” adding that “cultural big data will serve as a powerful analytical tool for reading these pathways of change and for designing content policy and industry strategy.”