Part of the success of the Korean Wave owes in part to the development of social networking services and online video sharing platforms, which have allowed the Korean entertainment industry to reach a sizable overseas audience. Use of these media in facilitating promotion, distribution and consumption of various forms of Korean entertainment has contributed to their surge in worldwide popularity since the mid-2000s. Korean Wave has become an influential global phenomenon since the start of 21st century, heavily impacting the Contemporary cultures, Music industry, Film industry, Television industry and behavioral aspects of people throughout the world.
Take South Korean band, BIG BANG as an example. In 2015, the group began releasing material from their third Korean-language studio album Made, and embarked on their second world tour, The Made World Tour. The concert was critically acclaimed and received rave reviews from The New York Times, The Guardian, Los Angeles Times, Grantland, and Billboard. The tour broke multiple records, becoming the most attended tour headlined by a Korean artist in history with a record attendance of 1.5 million people worldwide, and listed on Pollstar’s Year-end Top 200 North American Tours for 2015.