Baseball here in Korea has been attracting a larger and more diverse fan base in recent years as younger and more female spectators fill stadiums.
Our Ahn Sung-jin was out and about.
Screams and shouts echo around the stadium.
Any South Korean ballpark will make you want to get up on your feet to join the cheering crowd.
Baseball has been known as having a relatively older fan base with the average fan being in their 50s.
But over the past few years, a particular trend stands out -it’s the increasing number of younger fans and female fans that come to watch the game.
“I think I come here to enjoy the delicious food and cheer with other people. The cheering culture is well-developed so you get to have fun with your friends.
“I think people are interested because the cheering culture is so well-developed.”
“I would agree on the cheering culture, but also new TV shows on baseball are trending these days so I think that also boosts its popularity.”
The KBO Korean baseball league looks set to see a record-high 10 million stadium-goers by the end of this season.
And according to a major ticket office for the league, 4 out of 10 audience members are in their 20s which is nearly double what it was in 2019.
And more than half of the audience is female.
“South Korean baseball is well-known for its cheering culture with cheering squads and a repertoire of fan chants. With the addition of younger fans, it makes the ballpark more dynamic and an enjoyable experience.”
Then what attracts this younger age group?
An official says there is more to Korean baseball than its outstanding cheering culture.
“As we work with more OTT services such as YouTube as well as Instagram, fans get to enjoy more of our content. There are so many content creators that the Korean baseball league has to compete with, so we plan to develop more sports content that captures not only young fans but other age groups too.”
With the vibrant cheering culture attracting more and more fans, an afternoon at the ballpark looks to be one of the hottest tickets in town.
Ahn Sung-jin, Arirang News.
Source : Arirang TV, https://www.arirang.com/news/view?id=272905
Arirang TV(public institution's name)'s public work is used according to KOGL