K-pop engagement in Indonesia and the Philippines hinges on moments, not just reach

Indonesia ranked among the markets with the highest levels of online conversation about K-pop groups in the first half of 2026, but Meltwater data suggests that audience engagement depends on more than how frequently an act is mentioned.

An analysis of ten markets - Brazil, France, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Mexico, the Philippines, Thailand, the UK and the US - found that Indonesia ranked third for male-group mentions and second for female-group mentions between January and June 2026. The Philippines ranked sixth and fifth, respectively.

However, the groups attracting the most discussion were not always those generating the strongest audience response. According to Meltwater, local connections, brand partnerships, fan-created content and individual member moments all played a role in shaping engagement across the two Southeast Asian markets.

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Brand partnerships and fan creativity drive Philippine engagement

In the Philippines, ENHYPEN accounted for 19.3% of K-pop group mentions and recorded a 28.6% engagement rate. Meltwater attributed much of the activity to the group's partnership with Dunkin’ Philippines and a well-attended local “homecoming” event.

Other groups generated substantial engagement despite smaller shares of the conversation. ILLIT, for example, accounted for 4.15% of mentions but ranked third in engagement, with a 16.2% engagement rate. Fan-created reaction memes helped turn the group's content into shareable moments.

CORTIS recorded a 3.56% share of mentions and a 12% engagement rate, supported by member-specific fan edits and live clips. Meanwhile, IVE held 8.4% of mentions and 12.4% of engagement, with tour content and posts related to member Jang Wonyoung’s styling and hair contributing to the response.

The findings point to a pattern in the Philippines: engagement was often linked to specific moments that gave fans something to discuss, share or build on, rather than simply the size of a group's conversation share.

Local connections shape Indonesian fandom activity

In Indonesia, several groups generated a larger share of engagement than their share of mentions.

CORTIS captured 19.6% of engagement from a 12% share of mentions, while BLACKPINK accounted for 26.7% of engagement despite representing 7.22% of mentions. Meltwater linked the latter's activity largely to member-level moments, including Jennie’s performance at Governors Ball and a sighting of Lisa in Jakarta.

Hearts2Hearts was the leading example of a group commanding both conversation and engagement. The group accounted for 55.9% of female-group mentions and 41.4% of engagement in Indonesia, with fan reactions and live content surrounding Indonesian member Carmen contributing to its performance.

CORTIS also benefited from a local connection through its first Indonesian appearance at the 2026 Allo Bank Festival.

By contrast, NCT generated 21.4% of mentions but 18.1% of engagement. Its conversation was driven by several major developments, including a solo comeback, a release from one of its smaller line-ups, member departures from SM Entertainment and a military discharge. The breadth of these stories meant that high conversation volume did not translate into a comparable share of engagement.

Conversation volume and engagement measure different things

For marketers assessing K-pop partnerships, the distinction between visibility and audience response is central to the findings, according to Ram Bojeesh, country manager of Southeast Asia and India at Meltwater.

“Conversation share is useful because it tells them who is visible. But engagement tells them more about what people are doing beneath that attention,” Bojeesh said.

He added that brands should examine the reasons behind spikes in conversation and engagement, distinguishing between moments such as comebacks, concerts, controversies, member activities, brand activations and fan-created content.

“These are very different commercial signals, even if they produce similar numbers on a dashboard,” he said.

Bojeesh said that historical patterns, combined with early changes in conversation and engagement, could help marketers identify opportunities to participate in moments gaining momentum.

Boy groups lead volume, while girl groups generate more engagement per mention

Across the ten markets, male K-pop groups generated 20.7 million mentions and 1.61 billion engagements during the period analysed, compared with 4.7 million mentions and 425 million engagements for female groups.

Despite the difference in overall volume, female groups generated more engagement per mention: 88 compared with 61 for male groups.

Meltwater also found that male-group conversation was more concentrated among a small number of acts. BTS accounted for more than 41% of male-group mentions and more than 61% of engagement across the ten markets, leading mentions in nine of the markets tracked.

Female-group conversation was more fragmented. Aespa led mentions across the ten markets, while BLACKPINK led engagement. Local leaders varied between countries, with Hearts2Hearts topping both measures in Indonesia and BLACKPINK leading both in the Philippines.

Bojeesh said the findings did not necessarily call for separate strategies for male and female groups. Instead, marketers should understand the different factors driving engagement within each fandom.

“With boy groups, brands need to understand the strength of the collective fandom and the group's broader calendar. With girl groups, an individual member's cultural relevance can be just as important as the group's overall reach,” he said.

Member-level moments create additional entry points for brands

Although individual members featured prominently in several high-engagement moments, Bojeesh said this did not mean that fans had moved away from groups altogether.

“The group remains the shared world fans identify with: concerts, interactions between members, and new music all performed strongly. Individual members, however, create different points of entry into that world,” he said.

Examples included Jennie’s fashion-related content, Carmen’s connection with Indonesian audiences, Jungkook’s dance TikToks and San speaking Tagalog at a concert in the Philippines.

For brands, the distinction creates opportunities to build campaigns around participation rather than visibility alone. Content rooted in a genuine interest, a local cultural connection or a format that encourages fans to respond and create can give audiences a reason to engage.

Bojeesh suggested that marketers could approach campaigns at both group and member levels, using the group to provide scale and a shared cultural platform, while drawing on an individual member’s relevance to make an activation meaningful to a specific audience.

“The opportunity is not simply to choose an individual member over the group, or to use either as the face of an endorsement. It is to build on the qualities that make the member meaningful to fans, while connecting that story back to the wider group,” he said.

Ultimately, the Meltwater findings suggest that marketers assessing K-pop fandom influence should look beyond mention volume to understand the moments, people and audience behaviours driving engagement in each market.

Discover what's next in Indonesia's fast-moving digital landscape at DMA Indonesia 2026 on 13 October in Jakarta, where marketing leaders will explore how AI, creator ecosystems, social commerce, and omnichannel strategies are reshaping customer engagement and business growth.

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