The South Korean stock market rises with telenovelas
The ways of growth are endless, and can even go through soap operas. Chinese tourists flock to Korea (in the first part of 2014 the increase on last year was 54%), after the enormous success of the television series "My Love from the Star"; even the casino industry, which continues to expand, attracts the Chinese, traditionally fond of gambling and limited in the (legal) outlets for this passion. What has been called 'Korea cool', the Korean style ranging from rock bands to pop singers and 'Gangnam Style', fascinates not only the Chinese. The repercussions are many and fruitful: the charm of telenovela actresses stimulates the sale of South Korean cosmetics and branded clothing. Amorepacific Corp., the cosmetics company that supplies the makeup products for the “My Love from the Star” star, reported a 104% increase in sales.
Chinese President Xi Jinping was applauded by students during a visit to Korea last month after quoting 'My Love…' in a speech on ties between the two nations (the soap opera is a romantic comedy about a Korean actress from Seoul, lover of beer, and a handsome alien who arrived on Earth 400 years ago). The Chinese site iqiyi.com, which streams the series, has reached nearly 2,7 billion hits. The number of Chinese tourists to Korea was 4,3 million in 2013, and is estimated to reach 2020 million in 12. And the Seoul Stock Exchange has been growing for three years now…
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-18/how-china-s-love-for-tv-alien-comedy-lifted-kospi-stocks.html
