Amid the highs and lows of South Korea’s stock market, a new television trend is taking shape — entertainment programmrs built around the emotional rollercoaster of investing.
Rather than traditional financial programmes, the shows turn stock trading into comedy and entertainment, following celebrities as they weather gains and losses. But as the format gains traction, concerns are also emerging over whether turning significant financial losses into entertainment could desensitise viewers to the risks of investing.
One of the most popular examples is Netflix Korea’s Rookie Kim's Stock Market Mission.
The series follows comedian Kim Won-hun, known for SNL Korea and Gag Concert, as he enters the stock market for the first time.
Throughout the series, Kim receives stock market lessons from fellow comedians and takes part in missions that pit him against other participants as they attempt to generate the highest returns from their chosen investments.
The show also puts a spotlight on Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, two of the most closely watched stocks on the benchmark Kospi. Both companies reached record highs by mid-2026, driven by surging demand for AI-related semiconductors and expectations of stronger earnings. Their shares subsequently plunged by roughly 40% over the course of July.
In the teaser for Rookie Kim's Stock Market Mission, Kim states that he has lost around 20mil won after investing approximately 180mil won in stocks.
The format is also gaining ground on YouTube, where a growing number of celebrities are turning their investment journeys into entertainment.
Comedian Hong Jin-kyung, who runs the popular YouTube channel Study King Genius Hong Jin-kyung, with 1.78 million subscribers, recently released a video featuring her stock portfolio alongside actress Uhm Jung-hwa. In another episode uploaded on Thursday, Hong revisits her investments in Samsung Electronics and SK hynix and asks experts to explain the factors behind the subsequent decline in their share prices.
Comedian Moon Sang-hoon, who runs the YouTube channel BDNS with 2.47 million subscribers, released a video on June 24 titled Our Samsung Electronics Can Reach 500,000 Won. The episode follows Moon, who describes himself as a stock-market novice, as he makes his first foray into investing.
The rise of stock-themed entertainment comes against the backdrop of an unusually volatile period for Korea’s equity market.
In June, the Kospi broke above the 9,000-point mark for the first time in its history during trading, setting a new milestone for the country’s capital markets. The rally was fuelled in part by explosive demand for memory semiconductors, including high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, amid the artificial intelligence boom.
The market has since undergone a sharp correction following its mid-June peak, with the Kospi hovering around the 6,000-point level as of Monday. – The Korea Herald/ANN
