Exploding Concert Demand... LG Uplus Expands Online K-Pop Live Streaming

Increase Exclusive Live Broadcasts and Expand Yes24 Partnership Content

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] LG Uplus is expanding its online performance and content business by live streaming offline concerts and musicals of idol groups resuming after the lifting of social distancing measures.

According to industry sources on the 20th, LG Uplus will exclusively live stream the offline concert of the famous idol group Highlight on the 22nd of this month through ‘U+ Idol Live’. With all offline seats sold out, the online performance also gained great popularity. On the 12th of next month, the musical ‘The Song of the Sun’ featuring SHINee’s Onew will also be exclusively live streamed.

They are continuously increasing partnership content with Yes24. LG Uplus co-produced and invested in Festival Island 2022, an indie label festival held on the 4th and 5th of next month. After the Festival Island performances, stage videos of key lineup artists will be exclusively previewed for free through U+ Idol Live. This event held at Yes24 Live Hall will feature singers Kim Sawol, Lee Seung-yoon, Jung Sewoon, Glen Check, and others. The company announced in April that it would collaborate with Yes24 to live stream performances online due to COVID-19. They sold online viewing tickets so that purchasers could watch through U+ Idol Live. This is the third performance following singer Wheein’s fan meeting and Ravi’s concert. Regarding Ravi’s concert, LG Uplus also held a free invitation event for its customers.

Launched in 2018, the U+ Idol Live application offers 40,000 contents including idol variety shows and online concerts. Some of these are operated in extended reality (XR) formats utilizing technologies such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). CEO Hwang Hyun-sik is also focusing on company growth through content. At a press conference held at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2022 in March, CEO Hwang said, "We confirmed a very positive response to K-pop XR content such as U+ Idol Live at MWC," and added, "We plan to further expand XR idol content."

LG Uplus is also considering expanding as a global live streaming platform so that overseas fans can enjoy K-pop performances online. A company official stated, "We plan to exclusively live stream our own planned performances as well as concerts and fan meetings of popular K-pop idols."