For whatever reason, Sm didn't even make an effort to promote these groups there when kpop began to gain enormous success. but simply abandoned them.
Sm never promoted their largest group and instead placed their hopes in nct and aespa, but at least the other main 4 do.
Sm was busy pushing NCT in the west, while RV was the one bringing them the streams. Which is great for them, but why didn't they try to exert even half that amount of effort for RV, given that at the time it was far more well-known than NCT?
Many people are unaware that the only Sm songs to appear on US Spotify are the R&V tracks Psycho and Bad Boy.
I really think that RV was their finest opportunity; Sm would kill to have that kind of success with NECT and AESPA right now, haha.
And Exo, well, they might have had something like double rn, even though I know they wouldn't be the largest boy band there. Compared to NCT, their music was far more popular in the K-pop community and among fans in general prior to enrollment.
It's all their fault that Sm has found the LEAST success in the west as compared to the other four major groups; they could have followed JYP's example and promoted both their older groups (twice) and their newest ones (Itzy Skz).
With the exception of RV Red Side, nct and aespa sound much more experimental than rv and Exo, despite the fact that nct's music is incredibly unpopular for how well-known the group is.
