Major South Korean publisher Netmarble bought a 25.71% stake in local record label Big Hit Entertainment (BHE) for $190 million. Thanks to the deal, Netmarble became the second largest shareholder of the music company.
What happened
Netmarble acquired the label’s shares a few weeks after the announcement of the development of a joint project with BHE — BTS World.
BTS World is described as a virtual band manager with exclusive photos and video content from the life of the members of a real—life musical collective – BTS. For reference: this is a boy band popular in South Korea, performing music in the K-Pop genre.
The game is scheduled to be released in the second quarter of this year.
How can pop idols help Netmarble’s gaming business?
Korean pop groups are actively involved in advertising South Korean brands, and BTS is no exception. The day before yesterday, the group signed a contract with LG Electronics. The musicians became the face of the campaign to promote the new LG smartphones.
Forbes admits that investments in BHE and the release of BTS World will help Netmarble to advance in the US market, because the BTS group is quite well-known in the States.
In addition, the collaboration between Netmarble and BHE can start an ecosystem in which the publisher can use music stars as a source of new traffic for their titles.
The heads of Netmarble and Big Hit Entertainment are relatives
In addition to business interests, Netmarble and Big Hit Entertainment are related to their managers. According to Bloomberg, the founder of Netmarble, Bang Jun-Hyuk, is a cousin of the head of BHE, Bang Si-Hyuk.
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