Sign up for IQ Index
The latest industry news to your inbox.
K-pop superstars BTS have grossed over $44 million from their ticketed virtual concert weekend, Map of the Soul On:e.
The two-day live stream was broadcast live from Seoul in South Korea on 10 and 11 October and reached 993,000 viewers in 191 regions.
This is a substantial increase from the group’s record-breaking livestream concert in June, Bang Bang Con: The Live show, which was watched from 104 regions.
General admission tickets for Map of the Soul On:e were priced at $81 for a weekend ticket; $90.89 for a weekend ticket plus entry to the online exhibition; and $44.55 upwards for a day ticket.
Production for Map of the Soul On:e is said to have cost eight times more than Bang Bang Con: The Live
For the Bang Bang Con: The Live concert, the group charged between $24 and $32 and grossed an estimated $18m.
Map of the Soul On:e, the world’s first streaming concert that applied both multi-view and 4K/HD, comprised a total of 23 performances across two 150-minute concerts.
Production for the show is said to have cost eight times more than Bang Bang Con: The Live, comprising four stages; technological features such as AR, XR and 4K/HD to bring viewers a more vivid and theatrical concert experience; and multiview live streaming that displays six screens from which fans could select their favourite.
Bang Bang Con: The Live, earned the group a Guinness World Record title for attracting the highest number of viewers for a music concert live stream ever.
A total of 756,000 viewers from over 100 countries tuned in concurrently to watch the online performance on 14 June, which was broadcast live from Seoul, South Korea, featuring a 12-song setlist and allowed fans to switch between six viewing angles.
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.
This weekend, K-pop superstars BTS will deliver the follow-up to their last virtual concert, Bang Bang Con: The Live, which was the most-attended paid live stream show to date.
The South Korean group’s return to the stage, titled Map of the Soul On:e, will be livestreamed across two days (10 and 11 October) at 11am and 8am BST, respectively.
The concert, which supposedly took a year of preparation, is set to bring brand new performances as well as altered setlists for each day.
While the production, which costs eight times more than Bang Bang Con: The Live, will comprise four stages; technological features such as AR, XR and 4K/HD to bring viewers a more vivid and theatrical concert experience; and multiview live streaming that displays six screens from which fans can select their favourite.
The production, which costs eight times more than Bang Bang Con: The Live, will comprise four stages
Bang Bang Con: The Live, a 100-minute live stream, took place on 14 June and saw more than 750,000 people in 107 countries tune in.
The event peaked at 756,600 peak concurrent viewers – equivalent to 15 shows at a 50,000-capacity stadium, and more than ten times that of fellow Korean band SuperM’s Beyond Live show – all of whom had paid to be there.
Tickets were priced at ₩29,000 (US$24) for members of BTS’s ARMY fan club, and ₩39,000 ($32) for members of the general public, meaning the concert grossed at least ₩21.9 billion, or $18 million, according to the Korea JoongAng Daily.
Bang Bang Con: The Live was the first time Big Hit has charged for an online-only show, although BTS raised an additional €3.5m from livestreaming their historic Wembley Stadium concerts last summer.
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.
Bang Bang Con: The Live, a 100-minute live stream featuring K-pop superstars BTS, was the most-attended paid virtual concert to date, with more than 750,000 people in 107 countries tuning in at 6pm Korean time yesterday (14 June).
The interactive show – co-produced by the band’s agency/management company, Big Hit Entertainment, and US livestreaming firm Kiswe – saw band members performing in various spaces (two concert stages and five rooms), with fans able to switch between six viewing angles, from “video call-like close-ups to full shots that encapsulated the tight choreography”, according to Big Hit.
The event peaked at 756,600 peak concurrent viewers – equivalent to 15 shows at a 50,000-capacity stadium, and more than ten times that of fellow Korean band SuperM’s Beyond Live show – all of whom had paid to be there.
Tickets were priced at ₩29,000 (US$24) for members of BTS’s ARMY fan club, and ₩39,000 ($32) for members of the general public, meaning the concert grossed at least ₩21.9 billion, or $18 million, according to the Korea JoongAng Daily.
The event peaked at 756,600 peak concurrent viewers
After performing hits including ‘Dope’, ‘Boy With Luv’, ‘Black Swan’ and ‘Like’, and ‘Jamais Vu’, ‘Respect’ and ‘Friends’ from their fourth studio album, Map of the Soul: 7, BTS closed the show by telling fans they’re looking forward to getting on the road again soon.
“We need to meet each other again,” said Suga, with V and Jin adding: “I hope we can perform again soon, because I want to see ARMY with my very own eyes.”
Bang Bang Con: The Live is the first time Big Hit has charged for an online-only show, although BTS raised an additional €3.5m from livestreaming their historic Wembley Stadium concerts last summer.
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.
More than 50 million people tuned into Bang Bang Con, a two-day video streaming event featuring concerts by K-pop band BTS, last weekend (18–19 April).
At its peak, Bang Bang Con, which featured performances from previous BTS live shows and fan meets, was viewed by 2.24m people concurrently. It follows the Learn Korean with BTS series of videos as the latest social distancing-friendly initiative from the South Korean superstars for their housebound fans.
In addition to streaming video, the event utilised BTS’s official light sticks, known as ‘Army bombs’, to connect fans across the world. The band’s label and management company, Big Hit Entertainment, changed the colour of the light stick throughout the weekend, so fans tuned who into Bang Bang Con on Weverse “felt as if they were gathered in one place” and “cheered together”, says Big Hit.
Half a million people in 162 countries connected ‘bombs’ and shared their colourfully lit pictures on WeVerse and Twitter, using the hashtag #BangBangCon.
In total, Bang Bang Con featured nearly 24 hours of programming across the two days, according to a Big Hit infographic:
Before the coronavirus hit, BTS planned to play their first continental European stadium shows this summer, as well as returning to London for two nights at Twickenham.
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.