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ARMYs say BTS ‘carry industry on their backs’ as PTD Live Viewing earns 40 billion won

BTS ‘PTD on Stage - Seoul’ concert grosses 40.3 billion won ($33 million) for the Live Viewing event as the K-pop industry calls it a ‘rare success’

When BTS V said, “Did you see my bag? It’s hella trophies and it’s hella thick,” in the 2018 BTS song ‘MIC DROP’ we should have trusted him as every single day we find a new record that the seven-member boy group from HYBE labels completely destroys and makes their own way to the top. While there have been fan wars among multiple fandoms over the years, every single group can come to the consensus that BTS is really at the top of the music industry in this day and age as they become the only K-pop act in history to gross 40.3 billion won ($33 million) globally for a concert that was not even in-person.

BTS shocked the world when they announced that Day 2 of their ‘Permission to Dance on Stage - Seoul’ concert would be live-streamed at the same time in theatres globally for the first time in history. While this was tried on a low scale by other artists in the past, nothing compared to the magnitude of BTS’ global reach. Not only that but the three-day event -- which member Jin of BTS revealed was considered to be a financial loss with the Jamsil Olympic Stadium selling only allowing the sale of 15,000 out of 75,000 total seats -- grossed 100 billion won in total proving BTS’ reach not only internationally but in South Korea as well.

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BTS records HIGHEST grossing worldwide cinema release with 'PTD on Stage - Seoul' concert

BTS live viewing concert proved to be a rare success

Given the fact that the Covid-19 pandemic had put an end to theatre visits, things seem to be opening up slowly as fans visited cinemas for movies; news reports from American entertainment magazine Variety are now claiming that “the live broadcast of the BTS concert was a blockbuster level performance, which is “rare” for a one-night event.”

With the BTS concert being broadcast at the same time in 3711 movie theatres in 75 countries, it was expected to gross well; but the sheer amount, in terms of revenue that the concert has earned, has made it impossible for many in the industry to put a finger on.

Who is doing it like BTS?

Now as BTS is seeing such a huge surge in their popularity globally, many eagle-eyed analysts from the K-pop industry are examining their success and how the group manages to outwin their competition every single time, The report that was released on Naver suggests that just like BTS, many other K-pop groups and idols like EXO’s Kai, SHINee’s Key, NCT127, Mamamoo, Blackpink, and Monsta X have all received global attention by broadcasting live concerts at theaters or screening movies containing live concerts.

It was also pointed out that no other artist was able to amass the success that members of BTS have. In the Naver report it was stated, “Among all idols, BTS has achieved meaningful results. It is highly likely that this is a phenomenon that only appears at a specific time and a specific artist.”

BTS' numbers speak for themselves

Variety also reported that North America alone has given BTS about 8.4 billion won ($6.8 million) - ranking third at the weekend box office after Hollywood blockbuster ‘The Batman’ ($66 million) and ‘Uncharted’ ($9.2 million). With this BTS has already broken their own previous record not once but twice.

Back in 2019, BTS reportedly earned 30.1 billion won ($24.3 million) in ticket revenue from 5,000 theaters in 112 countries around the world for their concert documentary film ‘Bring the Soul: The Movie’.

Not only that but back in the early days of BTS’ popularity, the boy group’s released movie ‘Burn the Stage: The Movie’ which grossed about 23 billion won ($18.5 million), breaking the $14 million record set by former British pop group One Direction in 2014.

'And nothing for K-pop'

Fans of BTS are loving the attention as they bring back the hashtag #AndNothingForKpop, claiming BTS is taking all these records and leaving nothing for other artists. One fan plainly said, "Just BTS #AndNothingForKpop" Another said, "Only BTS!" One more fan said, "And nothing for kpop" One more fan said, "BTS carrying the music industry." One more fan said, "Once again, @BTS_twt is found carrying the music industry on their back." Another fan narrated, "In the theatre I went to, all the theatre officials in their suits came down to see us. They were all taking our videos & giving us the royal treatment. The waiting lounge was playing BTS songs whole day. Idt they've seen anything like it in a long time."

One fan taunted antis claiming that BTS fans are bots saying, "Amazing they could get bots to go to movie theaters too. Isn’t South Korean technology amazing?" One fan said, "They ate as usual!" One more fan said, "A normal thing for BTS and BTS only." One fan pointed out, "I think the industry is slowly starting to wake up now," and another responded, "Industry knows what's up and some of them see what we see…" One fan said, "There is no next BTS that's true."