(Side Note: In rating agencies, primary objective is to evaluate agencies’ responses to various issues. Responses are a crucial ingredient for agencies’ and groups’ survival, fame, and profitability.
To a lesser extent, financial aspects might be tackled, but will not be a major factor in rating them.)
CUBE Entertainment
What was once thought of as sidestepping girl group over other, turned to be a back-to-back girl groups’ success for the agency. These moves earned fruitful results, as CLC earned a spot on Billboard’s Social 50 charts. As for (G)I-DLE, they are now on the way for US promotions, plus their status improved upon joining Queendom.
CUBE Entertainment encourages creativity, and that is the value most apparent in them. In fact, CLC’s Yeeun participated in composing lyrics of their songs No, Me, and Devil. Even (G)I-DLE’s Soyeon took part for No. It even provided a soft comeback for the latter group to help them shine further.
Another positive aspect noted is on their consistent scheduling for CLC and (G)I-DLE. As revealed by a VLive, the latter is slated to release its track on January next year, and CLC on March. This will be an added point for them.
While the response to E’Dawn and HyunA was not impressive, it mattered a little. In fact, PENTAGON still has its regular comebacks and promotions, just like PRISM world tours in Americas and Europe. And the agency kept Universes updated on group’s travel status following the flight mishap. Most important is on letting injured members like Kino and Yanan take rest.
For its long-term success, it might be helpful for them to tolerate dating scandals or give positive response. Another suggestion would be for them to create another boy group. They also have to strategize on how to make PENTAGON and CLC stand out further. Finally, on engaging more members to be composers at the same time.
Group(s) Rated: CLC
Rating: 91.67%
Grade: A-
Assessment: Very Good
Scoreboard
| Criterion | Points | |
| 1 | Promotion of groups | 4 |
| 2 | Rolling of comebacks | 5 |
| 3 | Handling boy groups | 4 |
| 4 | Handling girl groups | 5 |
| 5 | Assessment as whole | 9 |
| 6 | Longevity of groups | 10 |
| 7 | Handling issues and responding | 8 |
| 8 | Encourages creativity | 5 |
| Uploads videos to 1theK | 5 |
PLEDIS Entertainment
The agency has been confident on SEVENTEEN as its flagship group. In fact, it succeeded in eliciting attention to the group via comebacks, ending in a bang with Hit, and still releasing another new one with Fear. This is on top of issuing statements on health of S.Coups.
Meanwhile, promotions for NU’EST are also being done, and it’s good that they are promoting it in many countries. Despite rigging allegations, their involvement in Produce series helped to promote Nu’est better.
These kinds of engagements rebound well, as reflected in album sales. It would’ve challenged the Big 3 today in terms of being leader. But it has another major problem.
The worst part is on handling girl groups. Recently, Pristin took up what After School left off, without any activities for this year. Its member Rena (Yaebin) once recalled that the group “was working with an album” till they were ordered to disband. Essentially, Pledis wasted opportunities to make the most out of this girl group.
While the agency’s advice to Kyla and her health was the best decision, still they did not make it up for this year with remaining members. This is apparent with Kyla’s clarifications on this issue.
Kyulkyung and Nayoung both hail from I.O.I and Pristin. With both groups disbanded, and because Nayoung was tired of joining groups that disband over and over, she decided to be a soloist in other agency. Four members who left later signed with new agency and re-debuted as Hinapia. And as of this writing, Xiyeon is currently battling depression primarily due to this scenario.
It’s time for Pledis to revamp the way they handle girl groups. Otherwise, this aspect will be their Achilles’ heel once they plan to expand.
Rating: 70.00%
Grade: F
Assessment: Failed
Scoreboard
| Criterion | Points | |
| 1 | Promotion of groups | 4 |
| 2 | Rolling of comebacks | 4 |
| 3 | Handling boy groups | 5 |
| 4 | Handling girl groups | 2 |
| 5 | Assessment as whole | 7 |
| 6 | Longevity of groups | 8 |
| 7 | Handling issues and responding | 7 |
| 8 | Uploads videos to 1theK | 2 |
FNC Entertainment
The year 2019 has been a half-half for FNC Entertainment: half-successful, half-failed as a whole. It failed somewhat on handling groups on hiatus and handling issues with Cherry Bullet. Meanwhile, they succeeded in some aspects, such as handling of Burning Sun issue, promoting AOA via Queendom, and giving N.Flying opportunities to shine via lead song Rooftop.
Negatives
Minor problem is on not giving necessary solo debuts for remaining CNBlue members. While Japanese versions of these are in place, it can’t be strictly considered as such.
In addition, their silence on disappearance of Cherry Bullet’s Kokoro and Linlin (plus Mirae) makes matters worse. They only issued statement upon their departure. In the past months, the group adjusts choreography with remaining members. That alone signals something is wrong with the rookie group, yet FNC is not solving this problem.
These things reflect their being unprofessional when it comes to groups like this, similar to what MLD Ent is doing. Better for FNC not to debut another group.
Finally, another hurdle is on FTIsland, especially with Jonghoon’s departure and Hongki joining the military. How will the agency restructure the band to keep it running? We’ll have to see it next year.
Positives
On the other hand, positive aspects need to be mentioned. First, it’s pleasing that FNC promotes N.Flying by giving three lead tracks and fanmeets overseas. They just have to promote it and SF9 further, as they have greater potentials.
Finally, they are renewing contract with AOA and keeping us updated, especially with the group joining Queendom. This sparked public’s interest in them being an eight-member group, and this helped them regain popularity. Quite interesting, since we might expect some developments after their sole comeback. Hope this will be turning point for all members to reunite.
Group(s) Rated: AOA
Rating: 74.55%
Grade: F
Assessment: Failed
Scoreboard
| Criterion | Points | |
| 1 | Promotion of groups | 3 |
| 2 | Rolling of comebacks | 4 |
| 3 | Handling boy groups | 4 |
| 4 | Handling girl groups | 3 |
| 5 | Assessment as whole | 8 |
| 6 | Longevity of groups | 10 |
| 7 | Handling issues and responding | 4 |
| 8 | Uploads videos to 1theK | 5 |
Source Music
Source Music has been home to its sole group GFRIEND. Just like BigHit, it’s amazing that they are steering clear of any issues against the group.
Added to that was the agency’s consistent promotions through the tagline “Go, Go, Gfriend,” a concert tour of the group across Asia.
While no negative remarks against them are reported, the major challenge today is on how to market the group against other more famous rookie and old ones. This is an aspect they have to improve as Gfriend is still lagging behind in terms of overall group popularity index.
It being purchased by BigHit is now offering opportunities for Source Music to expand its lineup and establish international linkages. We’ll see what they can do in the coming years.
Group(s) Rated: GFRIEND
Rating: 96.00%
Grade: A+
Assessment: Excellent
Scoreboard
| Criterion | Points | |
| 1 | Promotion of groups | 5 |
| 2 | Rolling of comebacks | 5 |
| 3 | Handling boy groups | |
| 4 | Handling girl groups | 5 |
| 5 | Assessment as whole | 9 |
| 6 | Longevity of groups | 10 |
| 7 | Handling issues and responding | 9 |
| 8 | Uploads videos to 1theK | 5 |
SD Entertainment
SD Entertainment is home to its sole group SATURDAY. Although the agency itself is not yet famous, this has the greatest potential to succeed someday. This year, they are one of the most responsive agencies. Big and small agencies can learn something from them.
First is on its clearly-defined succession plan, completely absent in other agencies. When Chaewon left SATURDAY last year to focus on studies, Juyeon filled the void last January. Next is Sunha, who left last March to find another career, and afterwards Minseo was picked. This August, Chohee and Sion left. While remotely possible, expect the agency to pick additional two members.
Second is on its efforts to provide another comeback for the group. In fact, it assigned MakeStar to facilitate this purpose. It’s as if SD Entertainment says to us, “Want comeback? Fund us and then we’ll provide new one.” As of September they reached their target amount, and are on its way for a second appearance.
Finally, they make necessary adjustments on choreography upon change of members. This is the case when the group adjusted WiFi’s choreo upon Sunha’s departure.
The agency’s formula of borrowing concepts from other stars, and stable succession plan will put Saturday on radar alongside other famous K-Pop groups. If they decide to retain the cute concept, one of their songs someday will be a bop and be famous internationally.
SD Entertainment’s efforts bear good results. And here’s another good news: the branding index for a month lists their group as one of the 50 most famous in Korea.
Some things must be improved here. As they expand internationally, they have to translate most of their posts in English. This will be a lot of help to reach out to fans. Second is on consistent uploading to 1theK, as this is the point where their song WiFi became famous. Finally, their group has to involve themselves in various shows like Queendom and Masked Singer.
Group(s) Rated: SATURDAY
Rating: 93.33%
Grade: A+
Assessment: Excellent
Scoreboard
| Criterion | Points | |
| 1 | Promotion of groups | 5 |
| 2 | Rolling of comebacks | 5 |
| 3 | Handling boy groups | |
| 4 | Handling girl groups | 5 |
| 5 | Assessment as whole | 10 |
| 6 | Longevity of groups | 10 |
| 7 | Handling issues and responding | 10 |
| 8 | Uploads videos to 1theK | 2 |
| Language barriers | 3 |
WM Entertainment
As to ONF, we have to see some developments on promotions. Despite being in the scene for three years, they are tagged as underrated. WM has to improve on this.
WM had its best shot on Oh My Girl, with its two lead tracks being streamed more. In fact, the group even managed to bag music awards, and Koreans gave favorable responses on their music.
The agency even apologized for lack of immediate response on Jiho’s health issues, and pledged to update fans with her health status. It helped also that they permitted the group to join Queendom. This resulted in Oh My Girl being recognized as one of the most famous girl groups this year, and helped a lot for them to discover new concepts.
Rating: 89.09%
Grade: B+
Assessment: Good
Scoreboard
| Criterion | Points | |
| 1 | Promotion of groups | 4 |
| 2 | Rolling of comebacks | 5 |
| 3 | Handling boy groups | 3 |
| 4 | Handling girl groups | 5 |
| 5 | Assessment as whole | 8 |
| 6 | Longevity of groups | 10 |
| 7 | Handling issues and responding | 9 |
| 8 | Uploads videos to 1theK | 5 |
Woollim Entertainment
As of this writing, INFINITE is still inactive, not to mention Woohyun enlisting in the military. Woollim also has to push through in giving Golden Child necessary promotions.
With regards to girl groups, they are at their best. Consider Lovelyz, who are being given chance to shine this year through a single promotion, letting them join in Queendom, and giving solo debuts for Babysoul and Kei. Also, they started adding new group called Rocket Punch, and are aggressively promoting it. This signals their readiness to expand with different approaches.
Another positive development was on malicious comments. As stated by the agency, they are continuously pressing charges against those who do. That alone is a very positive step to protect the mental health of their artists.
Rating: 87.27%
Grade: B-
Assessment: Satisfactory
Scoreboard
| Criterion | Points | |
| 1 | Promotion of groups | 4 |
| 2 | Rolling of comebacks | 4 |
| 3 | Handling boy groups | 3 |
| 4 | Handling girl groups | 5 |
| 5 | Assessment as whole | 8 |
| 6 | Longevity of groups | 10 |
| 7 | Handling issues and responding | 9 |
| 8 | Uploads videos to 1theK | 5 |
For our Part 2, stay tuned for our review of RBW, Starship, PNation, Fantagio, Off the Record, Polaris, and OSR.
