Thailand flexes Korean wave-like power with boys' love dramas 

"Even though there has been demand for this kind of content, no one has seriously dealt with it until now," said Sataporn Panichraksapong, managing director of GMMTV. "If we work on these dramas seriously, people will respond enthusiastically."

BL dramas took their cue from Japanese pop culture. In Thailand, they are also known as "Y series," the Y coming from yaoi, a Japanese slang term for BL manga. At first, many of Thailand's TV dramas were modest in nature, similar to those in Japan, with characters going to the extent of holding hands. Gradually, however, the content has become more diverse, depicting realistic romantic feelings and social issues.

Thai studios making BL dramas have formed dedicated and powerful fandoms, reaching out through meetups and social media campaigns that borrow ideas from South Korea's entertainment industry.

GMMTV was quick to recognize the potential of BL as a genre that would appeal to trend-conscious teenagers. In 2016, "SOTUS," which depicted the changing relationship between senior and junior students in a university engineering department, was a hit.

Thai BL dramas have gained popularity in the rest of Asia, the Middle East and South America. Going over search results for GMMTV productions over the past year on Google Trends clearly shows a lot of interest in Vietnam, Laos and the Philippines for shows like "Wandee Goodday" and "My Love Mix-Up!," which is based on a Japanese manga. Their popularity transcends the digital space, with fan meetups held in countries as far away as Brazil.

Thanks to social media, fanbases are also expanding in places where one might think gay storylines are taboo. These include Indonesia and Middle Eastern countries -- territories with large Muslim populations -- as well as China, which regulates BL content.

In other words, these dramas are finding a niche in countries whose domestic studios lack the freedom to tell such stories.

GMMTV actively promotes its works overseas by releasing many of them with English subtitles for free on its official YouTube channel and other platforms. "Even if you release the content itself for free, you can still earn money from other areas," Sataporn said. "If the actors become famous along with the work, you can make extra money from concerts, merchandise and music."

According to data from British market researcher Ampere Analysis, Thai works recently account for 20% of the top 100 most popular video streaming titles in the Asia-Pacific region, up from around 5% five years ago.

Looking at the IMDb rankings of Thai works released in 2024 and through late January, more than 60% of the top 50 films had LGBT themes (IMDb evaluates films from around the world). As a genre, BL in Thailand is beginning to surpass the showbiz mainstays of horror and comedy.

"The Thai creative industry is using South Korea as a model, intent on sending its content out to the world," said Jessada Salathong, assistant professor at the Faculty of Communication Arts of Chulalongkorn University. "The roots of Thai culture are a hybrid of Buddhism and various traditions, and it is richly diverse, even within Asia. In particular, there is a high degree of freedom regarding gender."

BL series are characterized by the passion of their fandoms, which is demonstrated through social media and fan meetups. Actors and actresses often share information about their lifestyles on social media. There are also posts about the performers spending time together in private.

GMMTV and its actors have a combined total of 438 million followers across social media platforms. Of these followers, 60% to 80% are female, and the majority are aged 18 to 24. "We are no longer players in the TV industry," Sataporn said. "We also need to play a good game digitally, particularly on social media, to survive. That is our strength."

While the overall demographic skews young, the shows are gaining more 40-something and older fans.

In Thailand, fan meetups where actors talk and sing have become commonplace, taking place almost every week. There are many cases where BL actors extend their fields of activities and become singers or idols, supported by their enthusiastic fans.

In the fall of 2024, major publishing company Matichon Group held Feed Y Awards 2024 Soft Power Unlimited -- an awards ceremony -- in Bangkok with the casts of popular Thai LGBT shows appearing on stage.

When scenes from the dramas were projected onto a giant screen, or when the actors sang while holding hands, the venue filled with the high-pitched shouts of female fans screaming "kawaii" and "narak," the Japanese and Thai words for cute.

BL dramas also have a range of fans in their 30s and 40s who are at the peak of their working lives. In Thailand, economic growth and a declining birth rate are progressing together, and the number of economically independent single people is increasing. As these trends take hold, working women are emerging as a new force driving consumption.

Companies have noticed this, and some have successfully marketed their products by using popular Y series actors. Karmarts, the company behind Thailand's popular Cathy Doll cosmetics, was the first to appoint a BL actor as a brand ambassador.

The company was quick to use "male couples" to be the faces of their brands. These included actors Bright and Win from "2gether," Zee and NuNew from "Cutie Pie" and Billkin and PP Krit from "I Told Sunset About You." In 2024, there were signs of a boom in girls' love (GL) as well, and Karmarts used “female couples” as its product promotions. In Thailand, actors are usually promoted in pairs, and even after a drama series has finished its run, the actors continue to be branded as a "couple." It is not uncommon for them to appear in other works as a pair. In fact, they remain "couples" for the long term, appearing at events and in social media posts.

"BL actors have many fans who are very enthusiastic about supporting them," said Wongwiwat Theekhakhirikul, managing director of Karmarts. "These fans are women and men in the LGBT community -- in other words, cosmetics users."

When influencers mention a product, that information spreads across borders. "We are not an 'unknown brand.' We are becoming a brand that is recognized around the world," Wongwiwat said of Cathy Doll. "Our goal is to become a beauty brand that people around the world can pick up, and that is becoming a reality thanks to the spread of social media."

With the South Korean culture boom having plateaued across much of Asia, attention is now turning to Thailand as the next potential trendsetter.

The influence of Thai BL goes beyond cosmetics. The drama "SOTUS" was the catalyst for the popularity of the famous Thai beverage pink milk, a classic street stall offering made of rose or strawberry syrup and condensed milk. After a scene in which one of the main characters recommends the drink to an older student, the contrast between the standoffish upperclassman and the cute drink became a topic of conversation among fans.

In some cases, sponsors' products have ascended to hit status. Oishi, a famous Japanese-style green tea brand in Thailand, has sponsored many BL dramas and had "couples" Bright and Win as well as Tay and New, who have starred in many shows together, appear in the brand's advertisements. In 2024, the tie-up with "My Love Mix-Up!" was a hot topic.

Thailand's global BL hits might also have flexed some soft power at home: In January, real-life Thai gay and lesbian couples began tying the knot for the first time, thanks to the recently passed Marriage Equality Act taking effect.