International Kpop fans spend tens of millions on video calls for a few minutes with their idols

It’s no wonder that Kpop fans always go all out to support their idols.

E-commerce aggregator iPrice collected data from hundreds of merchants in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong, and compared how much BLACKPINK, TWICE, and BTS fans spend on merchandise, albums, and discs

ARMY (BTS fan community), ranked first in the research results.

For comparison, members of the TWICE fandom Once can spend about $824 (nearly 20 million VND) on merch, 14 albums and 4 concerts as of the time of research.

Photo cards (also known as corner cards) are one of the most popular Kpop items.

Tan Kaisi Kessie, 21, is a crazy Kpop fan, admiring groups including NCT, Seventeen and EXO.

`I spent all that money because they made me happy, and I like to collect photo IDs just because I feel good looking at my collection,` Tan told VICE.

For Ashley De La Torre, a 19-year-old geology major who lives in Los Angeles and loves Kpop, the dream of meeting her idol through the screen has come true not once, not even twice – but

Most recently, she got on a call with Keeho, a singer in the group P1Harmony.

She recorded the call and then uploaded part of it to TikTok, attracting nearly 700 thousand likes as of May 18.

To participate in these video calls – often hosted by music distributors or e-commerce platforms – fans must purchase the physical album for a chance to win tickets.

De La Torre told Insider that she signed up for nine video calling events and she was lucky enough to win eight of them.

The average amount per call is $300 (about 7 million VND), De La Torre estimates.

Of course, De La Torre is not alone in this journey and the `fansign` culture has also existed for a long time in the Kpop enthusiast community.

Traditionally, fansigns are events where fans can meet Kpop idols to get their albums signed.

Typically held in South Korea, these events are on a first-come, first-served basis or lottery-based, according to Kpop news outlet Koreaboo.

To win tickets to attend the fansign, fans will have to buy a physical disc.

For lottery-based events, each album you purchase will have a chance to be entered into the lottery – the more you buy, the better your chances of winning.

Another girl named Belicia Ngow told Insider that she spent nearly $2,200 (52 million VND) to buy a large number of albums and participate in the lottery for 8 video fansign sessions.

In 2021, she won a call with Dino from group Seventeen.

Arada Varaputtanon, 21, shared a video of herself doing a TikTok trend with Mark, her favorite member of the NCT group.

The business major studying in Japan told Insider that she had about 11 video calls with Mark.

`During the second call, I think I sang to him,` Varaputtanon said.

All three fans above had to have a clear strategy regarding money for their `idol-chasing` activities.

De La Torre took a part-time job to cover expenses.

Ngow, an art business student at Ngee Ann Polytechnic in Singapore, pursued a side job to fund his hobby.

But to stand out among the many other Kpop fans using similar business strategies, Ngow tries to keep his prices low by saving costs.

South Korea’s music industry generated more than $7 billion in revenue in 2021, up 55% from the previous year, according to Statista.

When asked if she felt spending so much time and money just to have a few minutes of facetime with her favorite stars was worth it, Ngow shared that her interactions with Dino were inspiring.

`This is probably the only platform where I can talk to someone I admire, and given how happy they make me feel, I think it’s worth it,` Ngow told Insider.

Source: VICE, Insider