Any K-Pop fan, regardless of whether they reside in South Korea or not, are no stranger to streaming sites such as V LIVE and Weverse. Korean idols especially like to connect with their supporters from all over the world through exclusive content on these platforms like livestreams, broadcast shows, and even chatting services where they can reply to posts made by fans. Due to the rapid popularization of K-Pop internationally, major South Korean companies have come up with solutions to help bridge the gap between artists and their fanbase.
Big Hit Entertainment, home to K-Pop groups BTS and TXT, have recently collaborated with Naver to combine Weverse and V LIVE, which belongs to both companies respectively. This happened as a direct result of Naver’s $410 billion KRW investment into beNX, Big Hit’s subsidiary company that operates Weverse. Now Naver is expected to gain a 49% stake in beNX (now renamed to WEVERSE COMPANY) and V LIVE content, users, and additional services will be transferred to Weverse.
Most notably, Naver and Big Hit plan on introducing more global artists into the community platform to give their fans a chance to connect with them as well. This exemplifies the influence Korean entertainment has outside of its own borders.ㅠ
Big Hit plans to spearhead the business strategy of this merge due to the explosive success of Weverse and include more artists within the community platform to expand even further to global audiences. Both Big Hit and Naver are setting aside their long-time competitive streak to join hands and introduce more Korean content to the world. The actual merging of platforms is expected to take about a year to complete, so fans would still have to wait before the change is completely integrated.
As for the overall reaction of the news, fans everywhere seem to be optimistic about the switch. Online forums and Twitter users have expressed hope for the inclusion of more artists and groups to bring them closer to the fans that reside abroad. K-Pop fandoms are looking forward to how this change can bring about new ways to connect with their favorite idols and the possible content that could come out of this.
K-Pop has undeniably been on an upwards trend within the past few years thanks to the immense popularity of groups such as BTS, BLACKPINK, Twice, and more. Due to the large amount of international fans obtaining an interest in fandom communities, many entertainment companies have prioritized content development and distribution, especially more so because of the pandemic that has put a halt on overseas promotions and activities. Fans can now comfortably look forward to more and more online content featuring their favorite artists due to big developments made by Naver and Big Hit.
Julie Kim
Asia Journal
(Los Angeles Times Advertising Supplement)
