Korean pop group BTS broke a virtual attendance record with “Bang Bang Con: The Live.” The show took place on Sunday afternoon Korean time (5 a.m. ET and 2 a.m. PT) and was presented by BTS’ management company Big Hit Entertainment with a cloud-based remote production studio Kiswe Mobile — from Seoul, South Korea.
According to Big Hit metrics, the show reached a peak of 756,000 concurrent viewers in 107 countries and territories. Attendance was the equivalent of 15 shows at a 50,000 seat stadium and was the biggest audience for a paid virtual concert. Big Hit added that the concert also helped grow BTS’ fan club, known as the ARMY, by 10,000 members.
The concert was the first collaborative effort between Big Hit and Kiswe, a live streaming solution company in the U.S. The 100-minute show invited fans to view BTS’ virtual house, where members navigated through and performed in various spaces, composed of five rooms and two stages, stylized in different moods.
The online presentation was delivered through six multi-view screens playing simultaneously. Fans were able to choose from video call-like close ups to full shots that encapsulate the group’s highly synchronized choreography.
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Band member Jimin told fans: “Though we may not be able to see each other at this time, we’ve been constantly striving to grow as a group. We are coping up with it pretty well so hope that you too can overcome this time by finding the small joy within. Hope we can meet each other again with smiles on our faces.”
The group played a 12-track setlist comprised of “DOPE,” “Boyz with Fun,” “Like,” “Just One Day,” “Jamais Vu,” “Respect,” “Friends,” “Black Swan,” “Boy With Luv (Feat. Halsey),” “Go Go,” “Anpanman” and “Spring Day.”
Recapping the event, Variety wrote: “It wasn’t the stadium concert experience fans had been looking forward to attending, but … was the next best thing to being there.”
