40,000 Combined Online and Offline Audience... Half Are Overseas Fans
Park Jin-young and Bang Si-hyuk Collaboration Stage Also a Hot Topic
HYBE's Weverse Con Festival has evolved beyond K-pop to become a truly 'global music festival.' It showed significant progress not only in scale but also in the diversity of its lineup and audience. The festival is being praised for taking a step closer to the goal of expanding K-pop globally.
According to HYBE on the 17th, a total of about 22,000 fans attended the 'AliExpress 2024 Weverse Con Festival,' held over two days on the 15th and 16th at the Inspire Entertainment Resort in Incheon.
The '1DAY PASS,' which allowed all-day access to both outdoor (Weverse Park) and indoor (Weverse Con) performances, sold out early. Additionally, around 18,000 K-pop fans worldwide watched the performances via online live streaming. The combined online and offline audience doubled compared to last year (about 20,000). Notably, foreign attendees accounted for 51% of the onsite audience and 63% of the online streaming viewers, making up 56.5% of the total audience across both platforms. Since the announcement of Weverse Con at the end of February until the festival's conclusion on the 16th, approximately 1.53 million related global posts were shared on X (formerly Twitter).
The diversity of the lineup was also enhanced. Not only HYBE label artists but also artists signed to Weverse participated, each delivering high-quality performances. Among the 24 teams, 9 were HYBE label artists, and 15 were domestic and international artists signed to Weverse.
In particular, the indoor performances held at Inspire Arena were praised as a stage showcasing the past, present, and future of K-pop. The artists' dazzling performances harmonized with the stage design, which symbolized the city's skyscrapers, while the massive LED screen stretching 68.5 meters vividly conveyed the expressions and movements of the artists immersed in their performances.
The highlight of this year's Weverse Con was undoubtedly the Tribute Stage. This signature stage, continuously presented since the predecessor event '2021 New Year's Eve Live,' selects musicians who have influenced Korean popular music history to share their music and reflect on the messages conveyed through it. Over the past three years, the stage honored the late Shin Hae-chul, Seo Taiji, and Uhm Jung-hwa.
This year, Park Jin-young, the head of JYP Entertainment celebrating his 30th debut anniversary, graced this tribute stage. He collaborated with nine junior artists, including Baekho performing 'Elevator,' 'Change to Me,' Ji-won from Fromis_9 singing 'A Breakup in Broad Daylight,' and Heeseung from ENHYPEN with 'Behind You.'
On the second day, Bang Si-hyuk, HYBE chairman and longtime musical partner of Park Jin-young, made a surprise appearance, creating a buzz. He personally played hit songs composed by Park Jin-young, such as 'I Have a Woman' and 'Lie,' on guitar and keyboard.
This year's Weverse Con received attention from various international media outlets. The U.S. online radio broadcaster iHeartRadio visited the venue and conducted interview sessions with the performing artists. JoJo Wright, host of the 'KPOP WITH JOJO' program on iHeartRadio, commented, "The Weverse Con Festival best demonstrates that K-pop is a global phenomenon," adding, "It is clear that K-pop's popularity is steadily increasing, and the Weverse Con Festival is proof of that."
A HYBE representative stated, "We could confirm through the number of attendees and positive responses on-site and on social media that Weverse Con Festival attracted much greater interest compared to last year," and added, "We will continue to develop the festival to create an event for music lovers across generations, genres, and regions without boundaries."
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