K-pop 아이돌 서바이벌 프로그램을 통한 전략 분석: 4대 기획사(HYBE, SM, JYP, YG)를 중심으로

초록

This study examines how K-pop idol survival programs have been strategically utilized as debut mechanisms in the K-pop industry, focusing on the four major agencies HYBE, SM, JYP, and YG. While previous studies have largely addressed the cultural meanings of survival formats through analyses of individual programs or cases, this study shifts the focus to how frequently and in what contexts major agencies have employed survival programs as part of their debut strategies. For the analysis, all boy groups and girl groups debuted by the four major agencies between 2015 and 2025 were examined and classified according to debut pathway, distinguishing between survival program–based and non-survival-based debuts. The analysis period was further divided into the late 2010s (2015~2019) and the early-to-mid 2020s (2020~2025) to identify temporal changes in strategic patterns, while broadcasting platforms of survival programs were also examined to explore the relationship between debut strategies and media platform selection.Groups targeting overseas markets were categorized separately, and an additional quantitative analysis was conducted to assess the concentration of survival formats in the debut processes of localized groups, thereby exploring links between global expansion strategies and survival programs. The findings indicate that idol survival programs have become structurally embedded within the debut strategies of major K-pop agencies over the past decade. However, their adoption varies by target market: survival formats are used less frequently for domestically oriented groups, while being deployed more intensively in the debut processes of overseas-targeted localization groups. By situating idol survival programs within an industrial strategy framework, this study demonstrates that survival formats function not as a universal debut formula, but as a strategic tool aligned with global expansion and localization strategies in the K-pop industry.

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