BTS's 'ARIRANG' Draws More Streams in Brazil Than in Korea as K-Content Targets Latin America

[The Financial News] Interest in K-content is growing rapidly across Latin America, including Brazil. The popularity of Hallyu, led by K-pop, is expanding beyond music into broadcasting, animation, character IP, and educational content, giving Korean content companies a stronger foothold in the Latin American market.
According to Luminate, a music and entertainment data tracker, BTS's fifth studio album, 'ARIRANG,' released in March, recorded about 739.1 million streams worldwide in its first week. By country, the United States led with 115 million streams, but Brazil and Mexico ranked second and third with 78.6 million and 75.9 million, respectively, ahead of Korea's 58.3 million.
Buoyed by this Hallyu wave, KOCCA is treating Brazil as a key base for expansion into Latin America and is supporting Korean content companies as they target the local market.

MCST and the Korea Creative Content Agency Brazil Business Center said on the 10th that they had successfully wrapped up the '2026 Brazil K-Content Biz Week,' held in Rio de Janeiro from May 27 to 31.
Ten Korean content companies took part in the event, including KBS Media, MBC America, Studio S, HYBE, and CJ ENM. They held 195 export consultations with 75 buyers from Latin America and generated a combined $7.13 million in results, including consultation and contract values.
In particular, companies that actively met with local buyers included Paristar Entertainment, which collaborates with artists with disabilities; Graphixs, a company specializing in educational content; Pingo Entertainment, an animation and character content company; Iconix Entertainment, which holds the IP for 'Pororo the Little Penguin'; and Kids Castle, a children's and family content company.
The event was organized based on the local cooperation network that the KOCCA Brazil Business Center has built since its opening.
To help participating companies achieve better results, the KOCCA Brazil Business Center ran its own export consultation sessions for two days during the event and arranged business meetings linked to Rio2C and local content associations for the rest of the period.
Wang Jin Park, head of the KOCCA Brazil Business Center, said, "Through this event, we confirmed the potential for K-content in fields beyond K-pop and K-dramas, including animation and educational content, to expand into local business."



KOCCA currently operates overseas business centers in 27 cities across 25 countries, including the United States, China, Japan, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. It has bases in major content markets such as Los Angeles and New York in the United States; Beijing and Shenzhen in China; Tokyo and Osaka in Japan; Paris in France; London in the United Kingdom; Frankfurt in Germany; Madrid in Spain; and Milan in Italy.
In Asia, it runs centers in Jakarta, Hanoi, Bangkok, Singapore, Manila, and New Delhi. In the Middle East, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, serve as key hubs.
To target the Latin American market, KOCCA operates business centers in Mexico City, São Paulo, and Buenos Aires, supporting local company discovery, export consultations, and market information services. It has also built overseas expansion support systems in Toronto, Sydney, Stockholm, Warsaw, and Istanbul.
Regions without business centers are supported through local marketers. One office is currently operating in Moscow.
jashin@fnnews.com Shin Jin-a Reporter