SEOUL, Nov. 9 (Yonhap) -- Nearly 90 percent of K-pop idol groups that debuted over the past 30 years came from small and midsized agencies, but groups under major labels remained active more than twice as long, highlighting a wide disparity in the industry, a study showed Monday.

The findings were disclosed in a paper titled "A Study on Disparities by Agency Size in the K-pop Idol Music Industry and Support Measures for Small and Midsized Agencies," written by Kim Jeong-seop, a professor in the Department of Cultural Industry and Arts at Sungshin Women's University and chairman of the Global K-Culture Forum.

Kim conducted a comprehensive analysis of 1,159 K-pop idol groups that debuted between 1996 and last year.

Of the total, 1,042 groups, or 89.9 percent, debuted under small and midsized agencies, about 8.9 times the 117 groups, or 10.1 percent, launched by major agencies.

By group type, 88.4 percent of boy groups, 91.6 percent of girl groups and 84.2 percent of co-ed groups debuted under small and midsized agencies.

However, the groups' career trajectories differed considerably depending on the size of their agencies.

Groups from major agencies remained active for an average of 7.4 years, compared with 3.6 years for those from small and midsized agencies, a gap of 3.8 years. The period was measured from a group's official debut to its official disbandment or end of activities.

The probability of a group remaining active through a given period after debut was also significantly higher for groups from major agencies, standing at 86.3 percent after one year, 77 percent after three years, 65.2 percent after five years and 49.8 percent after 10 years.

For groups from small and midsized agencies, the corresponding figures were 66.5 percent, 42.2 percent, 28.7 percent and 13.2 percent, respectively, indicating a sharp decline in their survival rates over time.

The gap between the two groups was also pronounced in album sales performance.

Among groups from major agencies, 57.3 percent had sold at least 100,000 copies of a single album, while 37.6 percent surpassed 300,000 copies, 29.1 percent exceeded 500,000 and 20.5 percent reached 1 million.

By contrast, the corresponding shares for groups from small and midsized agencies stood at just 6.6 percent, 2.5 percent, 1.4 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.

In terms of the likelihood of achieving million-seller status, often considered an indicator of top-tier stardom, groups from major agencies were 30.5 times more likely to reach the milestone than those from smaller agencies.

"As the sales thresholds increased, the gap between the two groups in the proportion of acts reaching those levels widened," Kim said.

Kim also identified 10 support measures to help smaller agencies grow, covering five areas: finance and investment; production and distribution; digital platforms and global expansion; professional personnel and performances; and improvements to the industry environment and capabilities.

The proposed measures include policy funds and investment programs linked to intellectual property (IP) acquisition, support for promising small agencies and startups, marketing based on social media, short-form content, artificial intelligence (AI) and data, as well as assistance for overseas showcases.

"Support policies should go beyond simply providing debut and production costs and focus on establishing a foundation for sustainable growth, from market entry and expansion to investment recovery, reinvestment and long-term activities," Kim said.

The study was published in the sixth issue of Volume 20 of the Journal of the Korea Entertainment Industry Association.

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