“Mega” is expected to be this year’s buzzword in the K-pop scene with large entertainment companies set to unveil rookie groups with double-digit members or even without a fixed number of members.

Cosmic Girls (Starship Entertainment)

The nation’s largest entertainment agency, SM Entertainment, recently revealed its plan to unveil a new type of boy band, called Neo Culture Technology. Under the NCT brand, an individual team will debut in different cities, starting with Seoul and Tokyo, without a fixed number of members. They are also expected to perform as subunits.

Entertainment and media giant CJ E&M has also recently unveiled a mega K-pop project Boy 24 with an investment of around 25 billion won ($20 million) for the next three years.

The boy group will be picked after going through several auditions and a training program and the selected 24 members are to perform in theaters or concert halls throughout the year.

Starship Entertainment, the agency of hit idol groups Sistar, Boyfriend and Monsta X, is set to unveil a 12-member girl group called Cosmic Girls at the end of this month, in partnership with China’s Hua Entertainment.

The rookie girl group, targeting both Korean and Chinese fans, has already garnered 670,000 followers on Chinese social media platform Weibo, even before its debut.

Industry watchers said despite the difficulties of managing and controlling large groups, they tend to provide the agencies with more stable income by building larger fan bases.

By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)