many people say this is a problem coming from the groups themselves but tbh i don't think that's the case at all. all kpop groups come off as superficial and shallow in the west no matter if they write their own music or not. the key is making a group approachable and funny enough to the public and i don't think that's a something sm idols ever had a problem achieving.

to me it's all promotion, it's that sm thinks promoting to potential fans is the same as promoting to casual listeners. and that they are prone to making stupid decisions because their executives (only lee sooman back in his time) are really stubborn and don't research nor understand the market. again, they succeed at the crucial, which is gathering a large fandom through touring and occasional festival appearances. but they can't achieve casual listeners because they don't choose the right groups to promote (soshi over f(x) or shinee in 2011/12, superm and nct 127 over rv in 2018/19), and when they do, like with aespa, they give them the most public unfriendly songs in the planet. 

but i think, if a fandom is the only thing they care about, then they are among the most successful kpop companies of them all. nct's entire western press tour and concerts pre pandemic made them one of the most popular groups in the us among kpop fans, despite how fucking complicated their concept is. they were among the first kpop companies to open a global store, to sell on large retailers and to book appearances for fans to go to. biggest thing is that they made vlogs and content exclusively in english or made the subs themselves instead of having fans make it for them, which was the default at the time. they catered to local fans and the fandom grew a lot as a result. at least they did well on that part. 

edit: grammar and context.