A collection of concert films featuring K-Pop icons BTS and Seventeen will start to become available worldwide on Asian-themed streaming platform Rakuten Viki from next week.
An agreement between agency firm Hybe Corp. and Rakuten Viki provides a slate of nine concert films, variety shows, documentaries from July 5, kicking off with “BTS Speak Yourself in Seoul Final.”
While the content deals are not exclusive, the deal is the first time that Rakuten Viki is partnering with Hybe to bring its K-Pop content to the platform. Rakuten Viki also claims to be the largest streaming destination for Asian content globally, with 90 million users and that potentially puts Hybe’s content in front of larger pockets of fandom that smaller, interest-focused streamers or the large general interest streamers. Rakuten Viki operates a hybrid business model with ad-supported free viewing (AVOD) and premium (SVOD) tiers.
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BTS concert films, in particular, are a hot sector. In July 2022, the Walt Disney Corp signed with Hybe for a slate of five products, including concert films and a BTS travel show. In May, Korean joint venture company wA announced a slate deal with Hybe for BTS and Seventeen shows for play on its U.S.-based streamer KOCOWA+.
“It’s clear that the popularity of K-pop will continue to grow, so we are thrilled to release these offerings on Rakuten Viki from two of the hottest K-pop bands in the world, BTS and Seventeen. There is a significant appetite among both K-pop fans and fans of Asian entertainment to stream this genre of content,” said Hong Jaehee, SVP of content at Rakuten Viki.
Concert films “BTS Love Yourself in New York” and “BTS Break the Silence: The Movie” will upload to Rakuten Viki from July 8. Series “Nana Tour With Seventeen” uploads on July 22 and “In the Soop Seventeen 2” on Aug. 2. Film, “Seventeen Ode to You in Seoul uploads from Aug. 9. Series, “BTS Break the silence: Docu Series” uploads Aug. 16, while “BTS Bring the Soul: Docu Series” uploads Aug. 23.
Part of the Japanese e-commerce and internet services group Rakuten, Rakuten Viki has more than 89 million registered users, operates the entertainment news community, Soompi and invests in original content through its Viki Originals unit.
