BTS Label HYBE & Baby Shark creator startup feature on ‘TIME 100 Most Influential Companies’ list of 2022

No doubt Korean entertainment is capturing global audiences. K-Drama, K-Pop, K-Entertainment producing companies are influencing the world with their unique creations, and now TIME magazine, the leading US weekly news magazine, has validated the fact with a selection of two Korean startups in the entertainment sector.

HYBE, the entertainment and lifestyle platform that handles the most famous K-Pop sensation band BTS, has been selected as the ‘TIME 100 Most Influential Companies’ for the second year in a row. Also, The Pinkfong Company, the Korean startup creator of the famous animation series Baby Shark, got named in the TIME magazine list for its outstanding digital creation.

TIME magazine annually selects the ‘100 Most Influential People in the World’ and also publishes a list of ‘The 100 Most Influential Companies in the World’. The 100 Best Companies list spans all industries and is selected by TIME based on key factors, including relevance, impact, innovation, leadership and performance, among companies recommended by editors, correspondents and industry experts around the world.

HYBE as a ‘K-Pop Powerhouse’

TIME selected HYBE as the leader in ‘THE POP POWERHOUSE’ in the list of 100 companies in 2022 and introduced it as a company making innovation in the music industry’. Chairman Bang Si-hyuk of HYBE said, “HYBE’s vision is to become the world’s best entertainment lifestyle platform based on music. We have reached the stage of expanding the boundaries of the business. HYBE, which started as a small entertainment company, has evolved and is now developing a 360-degree business based on artist and music IP, and IP like Disney.”

At the same time, TIME selected Hive’s business structure as the basis for the success of HYBE and BTS in the global music market despite the pandemic. It is said that the value chain of the music industry itself has been expanded with the artist IP as the centre. Through this, a business structure that influences the value enhancement of the music market itself has been created.

TIME emphasized that “What differentiates HYBE from other companies is that it invests in technology that enables online streaming concerts, artist-fan sympathy, ticketing, and MD product purchases,” highlighting HYBE’s global fandom platform. Weverse 2.0, which has evolved further, such as introducing Weverse and integrating Naver V Live functions that would be launched in 2022. In addition, there was mention of the NFT business, which will be introduced through a joint venture established with Dunamu. HYBE’s ‘Original Story Business’ launched in the first half of this year was also mentioned.

HYBE Chairman Bang Si-hyuk and HYBE’s representative artist, BTS, are featured on the TIME cover to commemorate the selection of the ‘100 Most Influential Companies in the World’ for 2022. Apple, Disney, and Amazon are among the top 100 companies, along with HYBE.

Baby Shark gets global validation for its influence

The Pinkfong Company’s inclusion in the ‘100 most influential companies’ happened because of its iconic intellectual property, Baby Shark. TIME cited that Baby Shark became the first YouTube video to be viewed more than 10 billion times. It continues to grow into a feature-length film, an animated preschool series that launched on Nickelodeon, and the NFT collection.

“It is an honour to be recognized as one of the most influential companies by TIME this year. With a clear vision and passion for exploring new opportunities in the fast-paced creative and digital environment, we have pushed our creative limits to pioneer our way of entertaining people in the world,” said Minseok Kim, CEO of The Pinkfong Company. “It has been an incredible journey to witness how our content has connected people around the world. The Pinkfong Company will continue to offer exceptional content experiences to audiences of all ages worldwide.”

Founded as a startup offering children’s educational services, The Pinkfong Company has evolved into the home of iconic IPs, including Pinkfong and Baby Shark. With the most viewed video in YouTube history, Baby Shark became one of the most notable cultural phenomena in the world. Following the success of the iconic song and video, Baby Shark’s universe continues to grow with the animated preschool series on Nickelodeon, live tours throughout the world, and the NFT collection.

In addition to the successful rollout of Baby Shark’s Big Show!, the hit animated preschool series co-produced with Nickelodeon Animation, season two of the series will debut later this year in the US, while its first-ever original feature-length film is in development for 2023. In January 2022, the company changed its corporate name to The Pinkfong Company. The name change marks its new chapter to expand its core business and reach wider audiences, diving into digital comics and novels, developing a brand-new 3D animated show, and opening the Singapore office as the business hub for Asia Pacific countries.