Covid-19 Can’t Keep K-pop Down: How Much BTS Label Big Hit Entertainment Earn?
Many music companies have been struggling in 2020, but not Big Hit Entertainment: in the previous quarter, the home to BTS and other popular K-pop acts saw sales jump more than 50 percent and net profits almost double, compared to the previous year.
The acquisition of Pledis Entertainment, the home of boy bands Seventeen and Nu’est, also added to the financial gains.
The company recorded 484 billion won (US$436.5 million) in sales, 89.9 billion won in operating profit and 60.4 billion won of net profit throughout the quarter.
Compared to last year, the figures represent increases of 54 percent, 73 percent and 92 percent respectively. And compared to the second quarter of 2020, the figures represent increases of 22 percent, 38 percent and 51 percent respectively.
This is the first quarterly report released by Big Hit Entertainment since the South Korean company went public in October. The IPO proved to be volatile, with the share price experiencing significant dips shortly after going public.
How BTS, BLACKPINK and K-POP Have Boosted The Korean Language’s Popularity Worldwide?
Romanised Korean can be found everywhere on the internet these days, sprinkled throughout comments posted by international K-pop fans, inspired by the Korean lyrics from their favorite songs.
Considering the Korean language is not widely used outside Korea, these posts by foreigners are interesting to Koreans, as they highlight the country’s soft power that has spread via K-pop and the nation’s juggernaut entertainment industry.
Along with the common oppa (an innocent and intimate girlish way to address a boy or man who is older than the speaker, often translated as an older brother), words such as daebak (an exclamation roughly equivalent to awesome) and saranghae (I love you) are commonly used by K-pop fans online.
Some fans show a deeper understanding, with the use of Korean buzzword dolminjeongeum, a combination of idol and Hunminjeongeum, the title of an ancient treatise on the Korean language.
The term is a kind of meme linked to the idea of the K-pop-driven Korean language craze abroad.
BigHit broadcasted the program "LEARN! Korean with BTS ”to help spread the Hangul language worldwide. In each video, BTS brang basic knowledge about grammar and expressions of Hangul language. Each episode aired 3 minutes for a total of 30 episodes. The first 3 episodes of the show will begin airing tomorrow (March 24) at 2 pm KST. Subsequent episodes aired at 9 pm KST every Monday on Weverse!
BigHit said, "With the recent popularity of Kpop and Korean culture, the demand for learning Korean has also increased a lot. Therefore, we decided to plan to spread Korean culture to help everyone can access to K-pop contents. We hope that fans around the globe will gain a deeper understanding through learning Korean. "
“LEARN! Korean with BTS ”is the first Korean education program of BigHit. The program was developed with the help of Professor Huh Yong at Hankuk University of Foreign Languages, Korean Language Education & Research at the Korea Content Research Institute to develop the curriculum easy but effective. BigHit plans to release more diversified educational content in the future so that global fans can easily learn and enjoy Korean. The content of the show will include the expressions commonly used by BTS’s members in “Run! BTS”, “BANGTAN BOMB”,” BTS Episodes”, ... so that people can learn Korean naturally.