| K-pop girl band BLACKPINK held its first online concert, titled "YG PALM STAGE ― 2021 BLACKPINK: THE SHOW," on YouTube, Sunday. Courtesy of YG Entertainment |
By Dong Sun-hwa
Some 280,000 viewers across the world watched K-pop girl band BLACKPINK's first-ever online-only concert, titled "YG PALM STAGE ― 2021 BLACKPINK: THE SHOW," Sunday, according to the quartet's agency YG Entertainment.
"Our primary data shows that about 280,000 people purchased a membership on YouTube to get access to THE SHOW," the company said in a statement, Monday. "We don't want to highlight the event's quantitative aspect, but decided to reveal the number of viewers after receiving many requests. YG and YouTube will confirm the figure later on."
Only fans who paid for a membership for BLACKPINK's official YouTube channel could enjoy the virtual gig. Given that the membership costs 36,000 won to 48,000 won ($29.99 to $39.99) depending on the perks, gross sales from the 90-minute show are estimated to have reached over 10 billion won ($8.9 million).
| Some 280,000 people around the world watched BLACKPINK's show. Courtesy of YG Entertainment |
YG added that around 2.7 million people newly subscribed to BLACKPINK's YouTube channel after the group announced it would hold the online concert. As of Monday afternoon, the total number of subscribers is more than 56 million.
Unlike many other K-pop online concerts, BLACKPINK's gig did not utilize much state-of-the-art technologies like virtual reality (VR) to enthrall the viewers, but instead put emphasis on the members' voices and movements only, just like with an "offline" concert.
Kicking off the show with its 2019 release "Kill This Love," the four members ― Jennie, Rose, Lisa and Jisoo ― rocked the stage with hits including "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du" (2018), "How You Like That" (2020) and "Lovesick Girls" (2020). Rose premiered her solo track "Gone," which will be on her upcoming solo album.
"I hope our fans enjoyed our performances and got some positive energy through our concert," Jisoo said.