It's been a year since K-Pop Demon Hunters dropped on Netflix — quietly, in June 2025, without much fanfare, to a modest first week. The trio mark the anniversary with a look back at how the phenomenon actually unfolded, and a frank assessment of where the franchise goes from here.

Emily, Andy, and Jo piece together the real story of the IP's growth: the music videos Netflix pushed to YouTube that first weekend, the summer rewatches that let kids learn the dances, the back-to-school moment that supercharged playground currency, and the 300-plus fan-made Roblox experiences that confirmed something genuinely generational was happening. The consensus is that the slow-burn launch wasn't a failure of marketing — it may have been the making of it.

• The harder conversation is about what comes next, with a sequel not arriving until 2029. Netflix has done impressive franchise work — Hasbro and Mattel deals, late night appearances, NFL halftime shows, an Oscar — but a year in, there's still no new story content. The trio have thoughts on what that gap needs, and aren't shy about sharing them.

Companies mentioned in this episode:

• Netflix
• Hasbro
• Mattel

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Kids Media Club podcast.

I am Andy Williams.

And I'm Joe Redfern.

And we are today celebrating a very, very special anniversary.

I'm going to hand over to you, Emily.

Happy 365 Days of K Pop Demon Hunters to those who celebrate.

Here's me with my derpy cash.

Yeah.

Can you believe K Pop TV One hundreds has been with us a year?

Tomorrow, Saturday.

Saturday, yeah.

Already toddling, weaned.

I know.

Shoes.

I know, I know.

What a year it's been.

Obviously the movie started like dropped on Netflix without any major fanfare back in June.

And it, it didn't do, didn't do, say great in its first week, but the audience found it.

I think the, I think one of the key things as well is like the, the Netflix, the Netflix team just took all the, all the music videos, popped them on YouTube that first weekend.

And I think it was the music and, and the movie that did it.

And it just started taking off with audiences immediately.

Took the industry a little bit longer to catch up, but kind of by, by week five, once it surpassed Leo as the biggest animated movie on Netflix.

At the time, we all knew that it was, that it was a big deal.

So yeah, obviously Netflix have gone on to do tons of stuff with it since they've signed deals with Hasbro and Mattel.

I think, you know, they've done a great job on the PR train in terms of getting the talent from K Pop Demon Hunters around the place on late night shows, you know, NFL halftime shows, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

It's been a big year from them.

From a PR point of view.

They won the Oscar.

It's just been, yeah, they've done a great job with the movie, but I guess the question is like, what's next?

I mean, I think they've done a phenomenal job with the movie.

But I also wonder whether in some ways it was a stroke of luck that it didn't open.

It wasn't immediately kind of massive and kind of found its audience within those kind of initial kind of couple of weeks.

Cause it feels like the audience really took ownership of it and then it became almost like a fan powered phenomenon really.

That's how I remember it.

Because when I was looking at the prep that we did for this and it had said it launched on Friday 20th June, and I was thinking back and I was thinking really it was September for me where it really began.

To pop.

So I think of it less as a summer and more of an early autumn thing.

I had even forgotten it launched in June because I think then that back to school by that time again you got girls, teens back together.

They were singing the songs they were looking at, they were planning their Halloween costumes and we saw how successful it was around that Halloween time.

So yeah, I think looking back, that cadence of launched in the summer and the music then began to take hold.

But then when everybody went back to school and back to their regular routine, that's where it went to another level.

And again with my Roblox lens, that was when we saw the number of fan made unofficial experiences really start to take off on Roblox.

You might remember we were talking about first there were 10, 20, 30, and then there were over 300 at its height.

Unofficial K Pop Demon Hunters experiences, there are still a fair few active.

Interestingly, I just checked before we started recording the official Netflix and twin Atlas K Pop Demon Hunters, Roblox experiences is still only fifth most popular.

There are four fan made experiences.

But they take a fairly sanguine approach sensibly and they let the fan base still do what they want to do on Roblox.

So it's been quite the phenomenon, hasn't it?

Yeah, we're the fans.

I do think that summer, I do think that summer timing was really key to it.

And I also believe, you know, I've written about this, that, you know, it being on streaming over the summer was part of the ignition of the fandom.

The fact that kids were able to go back to it, rewatch it in each other's houses, be out on greens and stuff like that, coming up with the dance moves, practicing the dance moves.

That's definitely, definitely what I saw around my local area.

You know, it's, it's like, you know, there's this question of should have gone cinemas.

I know we talked about cinemas in the last, in the last episode of the podcast.

But like I think it being on streaming was one of the reasons it was able to ignite in the way that it was in such a, in such a major way.

And that return factor, right, like it's back in like back in the day High School Musical, right on Disney, on Disney Channel.

Or we'd obviously have the premiere date, but then we'd like play it, you know, at least once a day, sometimes twice a day for the following three weeks to really bed it in.

That was before streaming.

Now kids can just go back and revisit and rewatch and it Gave, you know, that summer holidays vibe.

It gave other kids the opportunity to pop over somebody's house, watch the movie.

I don't think it's a movie that parents would have spent the money on to go to cinema.

Even just from the simple fact of being called K Pop Demon Hunters.

They'd be like, I don't understand the K Pop and the Demon Hunters is turning me off for my 8 year old.

So no thanks.

You know what I mean?

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

I think the other thing that really, that really kind of boosted it was that it exists as a music phenomenon as well as an animated movie phenomenon.

It's the.

The fact that you have that multiplier effect.

The fact that that IP exists on Spotify music streaming services as much as it does on Netflix.

In a way, I think that really kind of helped kind of amplify the noise around that IP and made it feel like it was everywhere pretty quickly.

As soon as it kind of caught that wave, it felt like not only was it on Netflix, but it was also whenever you turned on the radio station or, or you had kind of Spotify, you kind of.

That IP ended up being reflected in lots of different spaces, really.

And a bit like we talk about Bluey having that kind of multiplier effect because it was on abc, Disney and the BBC all concurrently.

And that amplifying that noise.

I feel like the fact that K Pop existed on Netflix but also on Spotify and radio stations, it kind of helped make it feel like it was kind of everywhere all at once.

And is that Playbook that you spoke about, Emily?

The High School Musical, when it was scheduled tv, but now K Pop Demon Hunters on streaming.

Do we think that's gonna be replicated?

Because it feels like it's a pretty, pretty neat thing to do, put something out in summer when kids are looking for stuff to do and they've got ample time to rewatch and learn the dances, but let it gather ahead of steam for when they go back to school and then the playground currency comes in.

Do you think that they will follow that with more K Pop Demon Hunters?

I mean, that is Disney playbook.

And Disney have been playing that playbook even since the days of high school musicals.

So something like Descendants has followed that Playbook end of year kind of event movie for schools that then plays in over the summer, builds into Q1, and I think, you know, like where K Pop Demon Hunters is.

Lightning in a Bottle.

I think, you know, you talk about the music, Andy, because the music is so good.

It's just like Like Bluey.

It's just good.

It's just good.

It's good content.

It's not good kids content, it's just good content.

I think that's where the cut through happens.

Yeah.

The one thing I'll say is I, I don't see Netflix refocusing on trying to create, trying to create this type of movie.

Again.

That's not what we're seeing from their pipeline.

They've launched Swapped, which is their latest animated movie, which has done really well.

Okay, so Swapped, as I pace Leo in terms of being the biggest animated movie Netflix have had that isn't K Pop Demon Hunters.

So you know, they are kind of starting to, well, let's see, let's give it another year to see if there's consistency in what they're building there.

Because they had had some build animated movies with the Sea Beast and Leo, which then seemed to drop and now is maybe back on form with Swapped and K Pop.

But we need to wait for them to have one or two more in the tank before we say it's a working strategy.

But I don't see them pivoting to try to grab this between the teeth.

Grab this as a strategy between the teeth.

They still remain very focused on streaming as their North Star, this type of franchise activity.

Although they're obviously happy to take the money in their back pocket because it's not chump change, it's still a bit more opportunistic rather than something that they're trying to orientate around, which obviously I find frustrating because I'm like, this is so great, let's do this again.

Let's always do this forever because that's, you know, that's the pipeline of kids media that we love.

But it doesn't feel like something that they're going after.

So Emily, talk about consumer products.

Have we had any data as to their sell through success?

Because obviously they did that dual deal with Mattel and Hasbro in order to get product out into the market as quickly as possible.

Have we had any NPD or sell through data from that?

I haven't managed to come up with any.

You know how hard NPD data is Scrabble for when you're out here in the wilderness, Joe?

Yes, yes.

And I've tried knocking on their door and being kind to them and sending them biscuits, but it hasn't paid off.

I mean what we can see is, you know, the, the Mattel dolls have come out.

There was a huge pre order campaign.

There was so much pent up demand.

We have to believe that they've been successful.

We're seeing the plush hit.

I was in my local Smith's there a couple of weeks ago.

The derpy tigers are way cuter than my no offense, knockoff from China that I managed to secure about six weeks after the movie came out.

And you're seeing it everywhere.

You're seeing it in pennies or pre Primark.

Excuse me.

And you know, we have to believe the demand is there and that.

That it's following through.

You know, there's all sorts of different lines coming in.

And, you know, there's no way that the consumer products aren't selling through on this.

Right.

The next movie is there.

Wow.

Is that when the next movie schedule?

Yeah, yeah.

So that's four.

Now, listen, they need to get the sequel right.

And I think prioritizing that at the expense of whatever voracious franchise appetite the quarterly earnings might want is the most important thing.

If they get it wrong, they've just melted the entire thing.

But the question is how they manage to tempo between now and then.

And the one thing I would say we're missing so far on the what next kind of checklist that I wrote back in August is new content.

Right.

They haven't had any.

Like, they've done a few things.

They've done like they like rolled out the.

They rolled out like the music videos as like a playlist on Netflix.

Actually ended up being like something like the 18th biggest TV series on Netflix in.

In H225.

They've done some fan stuff and they've obviously created content.

Like, you know, there's.

There's this.

There's like the Hunt tricks at Macy's Thanksgiving Day was like a whole thing.

Every time they.

Those ladies come out and sing the music, it's a whole other content moment.

But in terms of new story or new music or something, that's more than the film.

We haven't seen anything yet.

And I don't know.

There's a couple of.

There's a couple of opportunities.

There was.

I think there's a ton of opportunities to keep that.

I agree.

Yeah.

That IP alive because as we were talking about the fact that it exists as much on music, you kind of feel like they could lean into it being quite meta and having that band almost exist outside the confines of the movie.

So, you know, have new music potentially and you know, maybe even look at a way that you could do a live concert, you know, potentially like a Gorillaz style live concert kind of event.

Yes, they are, they are talking about.

So there, there's a deal in for live concerts.

This like for.

I'm not sure if it's this year or next year.

I need to look at, I need to look at the details how they're going to execute that.

Obviously I don't think it's going to be E.J.

And Remy and going to, you know, all the different markets individually.

It's going to be more of an experience that's replicable and stuff like that.

So that is another one that they've managed to tick off.

I mean Netflix, they have done really well with this franchise management.

Isn't there, you know, isn't a muscle that they are regularly flexing and the amount that they've managed to get to get done on this so far is really impressive.

People talk about it like it's their Frozen moment.

But like Frozen was at Disney, who is the franchise like franchise monster.

Right.

So that was all muscles that they were used to flexing.

They just need to flex them a different direction.

It was fine.

But I do think this question of new content is, is becoming very like prescient because it's been, it's been a year, right?

It's been a year and there's nothing new.

So I was going to say the difference with Frozen is that, that this is very much a kind of post social media sort of creator moment for K Pop Demon Hunters, which isn't a kind of an environment that Frozen really had to contend with in the same way.

And so I feel like Netflix have to find a way to kind of empower that fan base.

Yeah, I was going to say something similar Andy, that that Frozen was from a different time.

And it seems a little bit silly in the, in the grand scheme of things.

Not a, not a long time ago, but a different era in terms of the amount of other content that is now vying for that demographics, attention and they, that, that silence and it's not true silence but it is almost deafening in terms of anonymity.

Sneaks upon you.

You know, you become anonymous and silent very quickly in this sea of infinite content and choice in which those K Pop Demon Hunters fans are swimming.

So this, it feels like yes, get the movie right.

But in between times, what are the little tidbits that you're gonna give the fandom.

It could be something relatively low lift, you know, more kind of graphic, almost webtoon esque stuff.

I don't know, vertical macro dramas that focuses in on certain just relationships and not grand stuff.

Oh, you're free consulting again.

Sorry.

Yeah, and I like that.

I like bang out.

I like the microdramas thing.

I'd definitely be leaning into that because it feels like it's kind of has, it has soap opera elements to it.

K pop.

And it does feel like you could explore some of those without compromising the quality of the, the main, the main feature film musical microgram.

But yeah, as Emily said, that is, that does cross the line into maybe free consulting.

No, totally.

And listen, it's such the thing about it is, as well as it's a different year to Frozen.

I totally agree with you, Joe, but it is, it is a, it's a different article to Frozen two.

I think you, you made the point when we spoke about this last summer where you were like, it is so fan led by even the theme and the storyline.

Right?

Like it is, it is.

So the fan, the awareness of fans, the, the, the acknowledgement of fandom is at the center of everything this movie is.

The call I made was there's a couple of, there's a couple of song fragments in the movie, right?

Genie's lament and Hunter's mantra, which are like, you know that thing when you half listen to a song and then you can't get it out of your head, right.

Like they're sitting there.

Obviously there's music written.

You know, it's just a case of extension.

Fans are taking them and extending them in their own versions at the moment too.

So like even with that, where there's stuff on the cutting room floor that, you know, that doesn't have to be completely brand new.

There was talk of a short that had been potentially had been inserted at one stage that's gone away.

I don't know if that was true or not.

Right.

But it's like a part of it is also like don't sweat it, right?

Like if the content's there and it's come from the heart of the movie, of the original movie, then there's plenty there that you can work with without having to worry about stepping on the toes of, you know, story world or whatever's building in the sequel.

So yeah, it's just about having that confidence and having that, you know, without sweating it, I think.

Yeah,.

Yeah.

But listen, a year of K Pop Demon Hunters, there we are.

Happy birthday K Pop Demon Hunters.

Yeah.

And it is, it's, it's, it's a decade defining franchise in my, in my humble opinion.

Like it's.

We haven't had something new like this for kids, for kids of this age in.

Yeah, yeah.

No, I would agree with that.

But I also feel like it.

We're at a critical juncture.

It will be interesting to see what they do.

Yeah, yeah.

Because there's a bridge to gap.

A gap to bridge.

Wrong way around.

Gap to bridge.

A bridge to gap.

One or the other.

What came first, the gap or the bridge?

I know.

Awesome.

Fabulous.

So shall I do a quick sign off?

Yes.

So hope you enjoyed that.

Deep dive.

Was it deep dive that, that kind of short discussion on K Pop Demon Hunters?

Let us know your thoughts and you'll find us wherever you get your podcasts and we will see you all next week.