The archive · Content & Film · Strategic decision · 2016–2023
NCT: SM's K-pop group with unlimited members, localizing itself city by city (2016)
SM made the group itself the brand: NCT had no member cap and city-based units — Seoul's NCT 127 later hit No. 3 on the Billboard 200.
SM Entertainment
What it had to solve
SM founder Lee Soo-man announced at Seoul's COEX Artium in January 2016 that the agency's next boy band after EXO would be NCT — 'Neo Culture Technology' — with an unlimited number of members. Instead of one fixed lineup, subunits would debut in cities around the world and accept new members freely, with the stated goal of making the entire world the group's performing stage by localizing K-pop in each market.
How it works
In January 2016, SM Entertainment founder Lee Soo-man stood at Seoul's COEX Artium and unveiled the agency's next boy band, NCT — 'Neo Culture Technology' — telling journalists the group would have an 'unlimited' number of members. Where past groups were fixed lineups that aged, enlisted and shrank, NCT would accept new members freely and spin up subunits based in different cities, with the goal of making the entire world the group's performing stage.
The structure was executed unit by unit: NCT U debuted in April 2016 as a rotating lineup that fit each song; Seoul's NCT 127 (named after the city's longitudinal coordinate) launched in July with members from Korea, Japan, China, Canada and the US; teen-focused NCT Dream followed in August; and China-based WayV came later. SM treated the NCT name as the constant brand, released the same tracks in multiple languages, and in 2018 gathered all 18 members active at the time under the banner 'NCT 2018'.
By 2019 the experiment was producing mainstream results: NCT 127 sold out a 7,100-capacity Los Angeles arena, signed with Capitol Music Group, and its single 'Regular' became the unit's first entry on the Billboard 200. In October 2021, the album 'Sticker' debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 — NCT 127's highest chart entry — and ranked as one of only two K-pop albums of 2021 to spend two weeks in the US top 50.
Why it lands
- SM inverted the product structure: the group name became the permanent brand, and members became replaceable parts that could be added instead of lost.
- City-based subunits localized K-pop rather than exporting one Korean lineup — each unit could serve its market's language, tastes and media in place.
- Rotation built cross-unit fandom: members moved between NCT U, NCT 127, NCT Dream and WayV, so loyalty followed the umbrella brand rather than one fixed roster.
- Every new unit reused SM's existing training, production and distribution, so adding another 'group' cost far less than starting a label from scratch.
- Multi-language releases — 'Regular' in English, Korean and Chinese — squeezed more value from each song while preparing the same content for different regions.
What it did
By 2019 the format was working: NCT 127 sold out a 7,100-capacity Los Angeles arena, released music in Korean, Japanese and English, and signed with Capitol Music Group after 'Regular' became the unit's first Billboard 200 entry. In October 2021, 'Sticker' debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 — NCT 127's highest entry yet — and was one of only two K-pop albums of 2021 to spend two weeks in the US top 50.
What you can take
Anchor the brand, rotate the lineup: when members and markets can be added without breaking the product, a band becomes a platform that grows instead of aging out — until complexity forces a cap.
Since then
In February 2023, SM's co-CEOs announced under the 'SM 3.0' strategy that NCT's 'infinite expansion' would end with the Japan-based NCT Tokyo unit, with no further member changes; regional plans such as NCT Hollywood were dropped, and founder Lee Soo-man left the company around the same time amid a public dispute over SM's sale. The existing units — NCT 127, NCT Dream and WayV — continued to release albums and tour as separate acts under the shared NCT brand. The format remains the industry's most ambitious attempt to make a K-pop group itself an expandable, city-by-city global brand.
Sources
- SM Entertainment's next boy band to have 'unlimited' members
- If BTS Broke the K-Pop Mold, NCT Is Creating a New One
- NCT 127 makes their US morning show debut on 'GMA': Here are 5 things to know about the K-pop boy band
- NCT 127's 'Sticker' Stays Strong On Billboard 200 In Its 2nd Week As No. 2 Best-Selling Album In U.S.
- NCT Tokyo to be the last NCT sub-unit, SM Entertainment confirms
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