Naver and Big Hit Entertainment (hereinafter referred to as Big Hit) join the fan community. Naver’s V Live and Big Hit’s Weverse are integrated. As a result, a large K-pop fan community emerged.
To this end, Naver will secure a 49% stake by participating in a capital increase of 4118 billion won by BN Ax, which operates Weverse. In addition, BNX will acquire Naver’s VLive business for 200 billion won.
Weverse has BTS, as well as popular idol stars such as girlfriend Seventeen, Henry, and Seonbi. Big Hitek has operated the service with the goal of expanding Weverse as a comprehensive platform for online/offline event reservations, merchandise sales, and communication with artists and fans, not just a fan club community. Naver plans to technically support this goal of Big Hit. The fan community business is led by Big Hit, and Naver is responsible for the technology.
Naver said, “The new platform will have an unrivaled competitiveness in the global entertainment market by adding Naver’s technology, which has the best technology in the field of content transmission, live streaming, and community platforms, and Big Hit’s business capabilities strengthened through the Weverse operation.” I expected it.
The platform integration work is expected to be carried out for about a year, and Kim Joo-gwan, who is in charge of Group & CIC, a group community specialized organization such as VLive, cafes, and bands at Naver, will lead the platform integration work as the CTO of BNX. Will be in charge of technology. During the integration period, each service of both companies will remain as before.
Accordingly, Weverse is expected to grow into a fan community platform representing K-pop beyond the fan community centered on Big Hit. Prior to this investment, Naver made a strategic alliance by investing in SM Entertainment and YG Entertainment. Accordingly, global stars such as Black Pink and EXO other than BTS are more likely to enter Weverse.
The company said, “The new platform will be the best fan-artist community platform in the world where you can enjoy the contents of the world’s most artists and communicate with them by continuously joining major domestic artists and global artists collaborating with both companies. Will” he explained.
Naver CEO Seong-suk Han said, “To expand our influence in the global market, we need close collaboration between competitive platforms that can create synergy beyond competition between domestic platforms.” “Adding K-contents to competitive K-technology globally It will be a unique player in the global entertainment market.”
CEO Han said, “In particular, the fandom culture, which had been regarded as an idol virtuoso, is now spreading to various fields, creating new culture and economic value, and is evolving. We have confirmed the potential for growth in the market.” He added, “The fandom culture that started around K-POP with Big Hit will make it possible to become the mainstream of global entertainment culture, such as Europe and South America, beyond Asia and North America.” .
Park Ji-won, CEO of Big Hit HQ, said, “Since its launch in 2019, Weverse has grown explosively and has confirmed the necessity and influence of the fan community platform in the global music market.” “Weverse and VLive We are very excited about the synergy of the company, and based on this, we will rise to a dominant position in the global market with an evolved fan community platform.”
Written. Byline Network
<심재석 기자>[email protected]
————————————————–
[라이브톡 안내] Who dominates Korean e-commerce in 2021?
Date: February 5th, 2021 (Fri) 16:00~18:00
Go to pre-registration