The rise of cultural IP industry is not only an inevitable manifestation of the maturity of national economy and social structure, but also a strategic opportunity that countries must seize in cultural competition and national soft power layout. After Disney's American super IPs such as Marvel and Star Wars, Japanese electronic games, as well as K-pop and Korean dramas represented by Squid Game, have also gone global and sparked a craze. Looking at the booming Chinese market, IP consumption is growing rapidly, and the market share of original IPs continues to increase, Labubu、 Chinese IPs such as Nezha and Black Myth: Wukong have begun to go global. This raises a key question: Is China expected to become the next global pop culture powerhouse?

The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Henderson Think Tank has conducted a series of studies on the rise of Chinese IP, focusing on cultural/creative IPs with unique roles, stories, or content that can be extended in various media or product forms. This study aims to decode the logic and opportunities of China's IP rise at multiple levels, from macro to meso to micro.

Cognitive differences in different regions

BCG's research shows that Chinese IP has entered the stage of "global awareness", but there are significant differences in awareness among different regions and categories. This survey covers five major regions: Europe, North America, Southeast Asia/South Asia, Japan and South Korea, and the Middle East and Africa. The sample does not include overseas Chinese or foreign residents who have been living in China for a long time. The results show that 74% of global respondents have heard of Chinese IP. This indicates that the influence of Chinese original content is no longer limited to the Chinese community, but has entered the "global cognitive stage" as a whole.

However, both at the regional and IP category levels, the global perception of Chinese IP still exhibits significant imbalances.

From the perspective of regional differences, emerging markets have leading awareness, while those with mature content industries have lower market awareness.

The awareness is highest in Southeast Asia/South Asia. In contrast, Japan and South Korea have relatively low awareness of Chinese IP. If Chinese IP wants to achieve breakthroughs in such markets, it must rely on clearer differentiation positioning and comprehensive improvement in creative quality and operational capabilities. At the same time, it is also very important to continue to enhance comprehensive national strength and the image of a great power, and to improve overseas acceptance.

In terms of category differences, trendy games lead, followed closely by games, while narrative content such as film and literature has relatively low awareness.

The awareness of trendy gaming IPs is as high as 91%, while the global awareness of gaming IPs is 60%. In contrast, the overseas recognition of film, literature, and animation IPs is still at a relatively low level, mainly limited by the insufficient supply of high-quality multilingual translation and the high dependence of content on cultural context understanding.

Looking at the current situation of China's IP going global, its global dissemination presents a clear and progressive path. The acceptance of Chinese IP by different regions and categories reflects the spillover patterns of China's soft power and cultural industry capabilities at different stages.

Southeast Asia, South Asia and other regions are more suitable as the "first landing market" for China's IP globalization. These markets not only facilitate the rapid accumulation of overseas user base for Chinese IP, but also provide a realistic soil for testing business models and establishing cross-cultural communication experience.

Mature content markets such as Japan and South Korea are not blind spots for Chinese IP, but rather "advanced markets" with higher requirements for content quality and cultural expression. In this type of market, Chinese IP must go further in theme selection, narrative structure, aesthetic style, and even production process to form true competitiveness.

In the long run, the path for Chinese IP to go global will be a long-term layout strategy that is segmented by market and stage. On the one hand, through low threshold and easy to spread content forms such as trendy games and games, we will continue to expand our global cognitive breadth; On the other hand, steadily promoting the capacity building of narrative content such as film, literature, and animation in high threshold markets.

Hard power lifts soft power

Although the global recognition of Chinese IP has reached 74%, the overall interest rating of overseas consumers in Chinese IP is only 2.6 out of 5. This indicates that overseas consumers have a certain appreciation for Chinese IP, but there is still significant room for improvement.

A Boston Consulting Group survey found that the worldview and fantastical logic of Chinese IP have a significant novelty for European and American users. In addition, technological progress is also an important source of interest for overseas consumers in Chinese IP, which once again confirms that the spread of soft power is often built on top of hard power. At the level of entertainment content, high-tech works have also increased the interest and recognition of overseas users.

From a thematic perspective, Chinese cultural themes such as "fantasy, martial arts, and history" are the most popular.

Regardless of national differences, BCG survey results show that fantasy, martial arts, and history consistently rank among the top three topics of global interest, once again confirming the unique appeal of Chinese culture to overseas consumers.

The interest of overseas users in localized themes such as fantasy, martial arts, and history indicates their deep curiosity about Chinese local cultural elements. The experience of the development of the Japanese anime industry also shows that internationalization does not necessarily mean erasing local styles and deliberately catering to internationalization.

High quality and originality are the key to interest conversion, so the overseas strategy must take high-quality production and originality guarantee as the core threshold. In addition, cultural differences and sensitivity to values also need to be precisely controlled.

Building sustainable impact

In the past year, nearly 50% of overseas users have purchased Chinese IPs, and there are also high spending groups among them - about 7% of users have an annual expenditure of over $100 on Chinese IPs, demonstrating strong payment capabilities.

The willingness to purchase in the future is as high as 70%, and the increase in this willingness is mainly concentrated in high-income markets such as North America, Europe, Japan, and South Korea, indicating a huge potential market space.

Chinese IP is no longer just in the "cognitive stage", but is steadily entering the stage of commercial transformation. High awareness and interest are rapidly transforming into actual consumer power, and the overseas commercial potential of Chinese IP is being fully unleashed.

High income markets such as North America, Europe, Japan, and South Korea have shown a strong trend of increasing purchasing willingness and will become key target areas for further breakthroughs in the commercialization of Chinese IP in the future.

Global consumers have given a clear signal that China's IP going global is entering a critical stage of development and huge opportunities.

Chinese IP still needs to further improve content and production quality, enhance originality, and form sustainable cultural and market influence. BCG provided two tips: grasp cultural values, leverage the unique heritage and value narrative of Chinese culture, accurately grasp the sensitivity of overseas users to values, and enhance global resonance; Optimize business layout, promote commercialization in high potential market systems, transform cognition and interests into actual consumption power, and form a stable overseas income and brand ecosystem.