Brian Gefter, Provacateur Holdings 

K-Pop: if you haven’t heard of it, you have surely been living under a rock. Deriving its label from an abbreviation of “Korean pop” or “Korean popular music”, this is a musical genre whose electronic, hip hop, pop, rock and R&B exports are taking the world by the storm. 

K-Pop’s rise is easily attributable to social media, which has allowed the music- and its artistic heroes- the chance to grow a global fan base, especially among teenagers. Namely, K-Pop is now one of the major conversation drivers on Twitter, leading the platform to extend its In-Stream Video Ads to include K-Pop content.  Such a move will allow brands around the world to run pre-roll video ads targeting viewers who use the platform to watch K-Pop content. The obvious benefits of the increased profit of video content copyright holders aside, the development also enables brand advertisers to reach a highly engaged group of young consumers keen to delve in the worlds of their favorite K-Pop bands by watching related content. 

Twitter has emerged as the ultimate platform for fans from all over the world to sniff out news and discuss developments in the K-Pop world in real time. In 2018, the most tweeted-about brand on a global scale was K-Pop boy band BTS (@BTS_twt), with an additional 56 million Tweets globally thundering about K-Pop’s annual award ceremony “2018MAMA”. The live Twitter Blueroom for K-Pop ban EXO (@weareoneEXO) late last year was watched by 1.5 million people, managing to set the record for the most watched K-Pop #TwitterBluerooms ever. Twitter is also extending In-Steam Video Sponsorships to exclusive Twitter-produced K-Pop content, giving advertisers a chance to maximize their campaign efforts by inserting pre-roll ads into video highlights of K-Pop #TwitterBluerooms.

 #TwitterBluerooms are exclusive live Q&A sessions held on the Twitter platforms, and have already facilitated engaging conversations between more than 200 K-Pop artists and their fans. In 2018, the average viewership for K-Pop #TwitterBluerooms was one million, giving firms a massive platform on which to beam their brand. In December 2018, LG U+ was the first brand to work with Twitter as part of this new advertising tool, introducing the firm’s new performance video platform, U+ Idol Live, on a global scale, raking in up to one million views. 

Both In-Stream Video Ads and In-Stream Video Sponsorships allow brand advertisers to complement traditional advertising efforts by utilizing digital video advertising. Better yet, there are no regional restrictions: brands are able to reach K-Pop fans in as many as 22 markets, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Egypt, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, UK, United Arab Emirates and US. This is just a start: Twitter plans to continue to expand this list in the coming year. 

K-Pop isn’t going anywhere in a hurry, and brands would be wise to explore the overlap behind this global sensation and their own offering- the number of firms already providing premium video content alongside K-Pop media paraphernalia is far from exhaustive.

About the Author: Brian Gefter is CEO of Provacateur Holdings.  Gefter is also a fan of all forms of music.