From JENNIE to P1Harmony's Intak: What Has Become the New Goal of K-POP Music Shows?

K-POP fans may no longer be watching music shows on television, but idols are still showing up.

Weekly programs such as Mnet's "M Countdown," KBS2's "Music Bank," MBC's "Show! Music Core" and SBS's "Inkigayo" were once essential stops for any K-POP comeback. Today, television ratings have fallen sharply while promotions that once stretched for a month or longer have increasingly shortened to around two or three weeks. Audiences, meanwhile, have moved toward YouTube, TikTok and streaming platforms.

Yet the music-show circuit remains firmly embedded in K-POP. From rookies seeking their first win to artists capable of selling out arenas overseas, performers still spend days each week moving between broadcast stations in order to meet fans and domestically promote their new music.

However, the difference now is that their biggest audience may no longer be watching on television. One music-show appearance can now generate a full performance, individual fancams, facecams and short-form clips that circulate across YouTube, TikTok and fan communities long after the original broadcast.

The television program has effectively become a content production system for an audience that may never watch the program itself. Sometimes, the relationship even works in reverse.

P1Harmony's Intak performed a cover of Rain's "Hip Song" at the group's fan meeting in July. Clips began spreading online, with the official performance video surpassing 2 million views and related videos accumulating more than 10 million views. The attention eventually brought Intak to "M Countdown" for a special performance on September 10th.

Rather than a music-show stage creating the viral moment, the viral moment earned a music-show stage.More importantly, broadcasters themselves appear to recognize the shift that has begun long before Intak’s impact.

"M Countdown" has expanded beyond conventional idol comeback stages this year, featuring musical actors, fictional bands from television dramas and performers attracting attention elsewhere. One musical performance featured on the program subsequently accumulated around 2.49 million YouTube views.

Even the criteria used to determine winners increasingly measure activity happening outside television. "Inkigayo" allocates part of its score to SNS performance, while "M Countdown" incorporates global social-media performance and international fan voting. Other programs similarly factor video views or global voting into their rankings.

The platforms that appeared to threaten music shows have therefore increasingly become part of how music shows operate. However, appearing and winning have become two increasingly separate things.

BLACKPINK's JENNIE demonstrated that this summer as she took first place on "M Countdown" with "Less than a Lover" on July 30 without even appearing on the program and won again the following week despite once again not being among the performers.

Her absence hardly meant the song lacked exposure. "Less than a Lover" was performing strongly across domestic and international streaming platforms, allowing Jennie to win a television music program without needing television to promote the song.

For an artist with JENNIE's reach, several days of weekly music-show appearances are no longer the only way, or necessarily the most efficient way, to put new music in front of millions, raising a broader question about the space occupied by K-POP's biggest artists.

Acts such as BLACKPINK and BTS, or soloists like Jennie, no longer depend on weekly broadcasts for exposure and can collect trophies without appearing. If established artists choose not to promote on the program itself, there may be an argument for stepping back from its competition as well. That could leave more room for smaller groups, for whom a nomination, stage or first win can still provide valuable visibility and a significant career milestone.

Moreover, music-show trophies themselves are also an imperfect measure of an artist's wider popularity. DAY6 is one example as despite debuting in 2015 and growing into one of Korea's most prominent bands, the group has accumulated relatively few music-show wins compared with leading idol groups.

Much of its biggest domestic success arrived years into its career, demonstrating that music-show victories and broader public popularity do not always develop together and thus are not the only marker of success for a group.

On the other side, globally focused acts show another side of the equation. XG, whose audience extends well beyond Korea, still returned to Korean programs including "Music Bank," "Show! Music Core" and "Inkigayo" while promoting its first full-length album this year.

For an act like XG, however, the value of the appearance is not limited to Korean television ratings or even winning first place. Professionally produced performances and fancams can immediately circulate through the international K-POP content ecosystem.

These examples demonstrate that winning a music show and needing a music show are no longer the same thing. For smaller groups, however, abandoning the system is considerably more difficult and could cause more risks.

A rookie without millions of followers cannot assume audiences will independently find a new release. Music shows provide professionally produced stages, searchable fancams and exposure alongside established artists. A first win also remains one of K-POP's most recognizable career milestones, capable of generating headlines and giving a growing fandom a concrete achievement around which to rally.

That exposure comes at a cost though as music-show promotions require repeated styling, hair and makeup, dancers and staff, while appearance fees themselves are relatively small. For smaller agencies, several weeks of promotion can therefore represent a significant expense.

That creates one of the biggest contradictions in the current system: the artists who need music-show exposure the least are often best equipped to afford it, while those who could benefit most must weigh that exposure against its cost.

Music shows are therefore not necessarily disappearing but rather their function is changing. Even though they may no longer be where audiences primarily discover which songs are popular, they continue to provide a centralized stage where artists generate performance content, fandoms organize around wins and rookies gain access to an established K-POP audience.

This is seen as Intak can go viral online and then arrive on "M Countdown." JENNIE can win "M Countdown" without arriving at all.

K-POP may have outgrown the music-show scoreboard but it has not yet outgrown the music-show stage.