If we were talk about the strongest armies in the world, you wouldn’t think that a group of boy scots would be leading them.

I decided to do this piece because my bestfriend paid 45 dollars to watch them online. (But if you want to watch them in 4K, or for your face to show on the screen like mid show, you would need to pay more). And apparently, she is not the only one who did that. Around 1.75 million tickets were sold (some allowed 2 computers to connect) and they broke Their Own Record For The Most-Viewed Online Concert Ever With “Map Of The Soul ON:E” (according to Koreaboo)

And that really made me wonder- How much money BTS are making?

According to South China Morning Post magazine– BTS are making more than 3.6 billion US dollar ($) a year. Which is a lot. This leads me to my next question. How?

So I started close to home. With my Bff, Eden. She has been a fan of them for the last 4 years, and has been trying to make me an armyneitor since the lookdown started here. Mostly blasting my DMs with posts of them doing ANYTHING.

@bts_official_bighit

#StayGold

♬ Stay Gold – BTS

Who Are BTS?

BTS is currently the biggest K-pop group internationally. BTS, also known as the Bangtan (scots) Boys, is a seven-member (RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V, and Jungkook) South Korean boy band that debuted in 2013 under Big Hit Entertainment.

They co-writes and co-produces much of their own music. Their lyrics, focus on personal and social commentary, themes of mental health, troubles of school-age youth, the journey towards loving oneself, and individualism. you can also see references to literature and psychological concepts in their songs and music clips. The group has several albums and performed on several world tours. And recently came out with their latest hit-Dynamite, their first English-language single, that set a new record for the most viewed video in the first 24 hours of release. And also became the first music video on YouTube to surpass 100 million views in less than one day.

@bts_official_bighit

#BTS #방탄소년단 🕺Dance ‘Dynamite’ with me #Dance_Dynamite #BTS_Dynamite

♬ Dynamite – BTS

The Internet

You can’t deny that they have great timing with the rise of the internet, and social media in particular. Since 2016 the boys won a Billboard Music Award for Top Social Artist, every year, beating huge names like Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande and Selena Gomez.

“I think we’re so lucky to be born at the right time. Without social media, we wouldn’t have been so successful.- Suga on BBC Radio.

View this post on Instagram

#BTS #방탄소년단 #BTS_BE Concept Photo ✨ @rm_bighitentertainment @jin_bighitentertainment @suga_bighitentertainment @jhope_bighitentertainment @jimin_bighitentertainment @taehyung.bighitentertainment @jungkook_bighitentertainment

A post shared by BigHit Entertainment Updates (@bighit_ent) on Oct 19, 2020 at 9:18am PDT

The Army

BTS has one of the most dedicated fans base. With 24.3Mmillion followers on Twitter and 22.2M million on Tiktok (as in the time of writing these words). Their fans spend hours posting content, sending messages and sharing their love for the boys, with numerous fb pages, profiles and sites set up all over the world by adoring followers.

My Conclusions

At this point I circled back to my first conversation with Eden, When she told me that she paid for tickets so she could watch their show online. Why would you pay money to watch someone perform online, especially in this day and age, where everything is accessible over the intent (for free!). So I asked her. And her answer, for my surprise, was content.

Which, if you think about it makes senses. And also made me realize the power of good content.

If we put aside the music itself, and focus on the music videos, each music video is like a tiny cinematic work of art. And there are 64 videography (I’ll let you conclude from that). From what I could understand they also made a web series about their life life together that’s been going on for weekly for the last couple years.

They have a game app with more than 5M downloads called “BTS WORLD”, that allows you to be the band manager and accompany them from their debut days in 2012.
That makes you realize that the amount of footage that big hit has collected over the years is enormous, and that the members provided that content for years constantly.

Add it to their Tiktoks and the fact that they may all enlist to the Korean army next year, so they’ll be forced to take a break from their careers. The non-problematic image that Korean idols are expected to maintain (which, tbh, is a breath of fresh air in the main-stream media). And they (or their agency for the very least) are very protective over that content. And that might seen a little harsh, but that is what keeps them the power house of their own products. It all comes down to quality content and timing. They truly show the power of that. That’s what BTS thought me.

What’s your opinion about BTS?

I would like to give special credit to my friend Eden, who inspired me to write this and with research and editing this piece.