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When actor Park EunBin takes a slow sip of Seoul Milk in the brand’s latest 30-second spot, she is not just selling dairy – she is rewriting the metrics of star power.
According to data-platform firm IGAWorks, Park generated an estimated 670 million televised ad impressions in April, more than any other Korean celebrity that month, after fronting campaigns for Seoul Milk and Dongkook Pharmaceutical’s vein-health remedy Sensia. The ranking draws on second-by-second viewing logs from 9.5 million KT IPTV set-top boxes and is reconciled by IGAWorks’ AI engine, Synthetic Customer Intelligence (SCI), which stitches together viewing, mobile-usage and transaction data to isolate genuine reach.
💸A 17-trillion-won battleground
Television still commands a formidable slice of South Korea’s 17-trillion-won (US$12.3 billion) advertising economy, even as digital eclipses it in raw spend. A recent industry brief shows overall ad revenue has climbed steadily since the pandemic, propelled by double-digit growth in online formats and a cyclical rebound for broadcast media.
Yet the April numbers hint at a market in flux: heritage brands are doubling down on “story” creatives, hardware makers are borrowing culinary influencers to legitimise high-ticket gadgets, and a single pharmaceutical blitz can fling a trot singer into the celebrity stratosphere overnight.
💁Why Park EunBin won April
Created by Kpopmap via napkin.ai
Media buyers credit Park’s success to a two-pronged narrative that made her simultaneously approachable and authoritative. In Seoul Milk’s breakfast-table vignettes she plays the role of caring older sister; in Dongkook’s medical-themed scripts she is cast as a firm yet sympathetic guide. “The campaign doesn’t rely on spectacle,” says Cho MinSeok, strategy director at Seoul agency AdCube. “It relies on relatability – and that delivered more frequency than any idol dance break could.”
The result: Park leapt 64 places to the top of the exposure table, dislodging chef-turned-TV-personality Edward Lee, who held pole position in March.
👨🍳The chef who became a hardware pitchman
Navien
Lee’s runner-up haul of 660 million impressions came almost entirely from KD Navien’s spring push for its Magic induction cooktops and 3-D air hoods. Pairing a Michelin-lauded chef with gleaming kitchen tech looks obvious in hindsight, but industry insiders say it was a gamble. “Premium white-goods ads have historically leaned on K-Pop idols,” notes Lee JiWon, a media-planning consultant. “Navien instead chose ‘culinary authority’ – and consumers rewarded that authenticity with repeat viewings.”
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