{"id":221473,"date":"2025-01-23T18:08:29","date_gmt":"2025-01-23T18:08:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/?p=221473"},"modified":"2025-01-23T18:46:06","modified_gmt":"2025-01-23T18:46:06","slug":"weverse-hits-150m-downloads-sees-19-user-growth-in-2024-as-ariana-grande-dua-lipa-join-superfan-platform123","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/weverse-hits-150m-downloads-sees-19-user-growth-in-2024-as-ariana-grande-dua-lipa-join-superfan-platform123\/","title":{"rendered":"Weverse hit 150m lifetime downloads, saw 19% user growth in 2024, as Ariana Grande, Dua Lipa join superfan platform"},"content":{"rendered":"MBW\u2019s Stat Of The Week is a series in which we highlight a data point that deserves the attention of the global music industry. Stat Of the Week is supported by\u00a0music data analytics firm\u00a0Chartmetric<\/a>.\r\n\r\n
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HYBE’s superfan platform, Weverse, hit the milestone of 150 million<\/strong> cumulative global downloads in 2024.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s according to Weverse\u2019s 2024 Global Fandom Trend Report<\/strong>, where the company revealed that the number of artist communities on the platform grew 30% YoY<\/b><\/span> to 162<\/b> in 2024.<\/p>\n

The report also reveals that the platform’s user base\u00a0grew consistently across all continents, with an average growth rate of 19% <\/b>last year.<\/p>\n

Sixteen separate global artist teams joined Weverse during the year, with high-profile international stars like Ariana Grande<\/a>, Dua Lipa, Megan Thee Stallion<\/a>, <\/b>and Conan Gray<\/b> driving double-digit user growth across North America, Europe, and Asia.<\/p>\n

The app’s users come from 245 different countries and regions.<\/p>\n

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Currently, Weverse operates communities for artists including BTS, TOMORROW X TOGETHER, SEVENTEEN, ENHYPEN, LE SSERAFIM, NewJeans<\/a>, CL, P1Harmony, Henry, imase, AKB48, thuy, MAX, nightly, Gracie Abrams, New Hope Club, <\/b>and Alexander 23<\/b>, among many others.<\/p>\n

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Weverse said artists shared about 206,000<\/b> posts, while fans created 370<\/b> million<\/b> posts in 2024.<\/p>\n

Direct messaging became increasingly popular, with artists sending 698,000<\/b> messages and fans responding with 96.36 million<\/b> messages. Notably, 55%<\/b> of artists sent direct messages to fans at least every two days.<\/p>\n

Weverse Live, the platform’s real-time video feature, streamed 5,787<\/b> broadcasts totaling 4,779<\/b> hours of content. The platform accumulated 11.25 million<\/b> viewers with 426 million<\/b> total views.<\/p>\n

The most-watched livestream was Jung Kook <\/b>of BTS’s<\/b> December broadcast Missed You a Lot, <\/i>which garnered 23 million<\/b> real-time views.<\/p>\n

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<\/figure>\u201c2024 was a transformative year for Weverse, as we expanded our artist communities, superfan engagement, and commerce activities on a global scale.”<\/p>\n

Joon ChOi, Weverse<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The platform also saw strong growth in merchandise sales. Weverse Shop<\/b><\/a> sold 20.6 million<\/b> items of ‘merch’ in 2024 (+13% YoY<\/strong><\/span>), which encompassed physical items such as albums and collectibles, plus digital items such as paid ‘memberships’ to artist fan clubs.<\/p>\n

Physical merchandise sales grew 10% YoY<\/b><\/span>, while digital merchandise experienced a 24% YoY<\/b><\/span> surge. Artist memberships emerged as the top-selling digital products, with different memberships dominating in various regions.<\/p>\n

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\u201c2024 was a transformative year for Weverse, as we expanded our artist communities, superfan engagement, and commerce activities on a global scale,\u201d said Joon<\/b> Choi<\/b>, President of Weverse Company.<\/p>\n

\u201cWeverse remains committed to innovating its services to meet the evolving needs of artists and fans, solidifying its position as the center of global fandom culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

In terms of fan interactions, 4.88 million<\/b> digital Fan Letters were sent in 2024, with Jung<\/b> Kook<\/b> receiving the highest number of letters, while LEEHAN<\/b> of BOYNEXTDOOR<\/b> responded to the most with likes.<\/p>\n

SEVENTEEN emerged as the most active in posting, while ENHYPEN led in comment engagement.<\/p>\n

HYBE CEO Jaesang Jason Lee<\/b> in November 2024 said<\/a> HYBE is not threatened by potential competition for Weverse, which counts Universal Music Group among its backers. Warner Music Group<\/b>\u00a0is\u00a0working on its own superfan app<\/a>, while\u00a0Spotify<\/b>\u00a0is also working on\u00a0a new subscription tier<\/a>\u00a0for superfans.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere are a number of tech giants and point players both in Korea and overseas, cooperating and forging partnerships and launching diverse services [for superfans],\u201d Lee said. \u201cAnd my conclusion is that this type of tendency and trend is favorable for Weverse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lee said that the content and product offerings on Weverse \u201care not really mature yet,\u201d and the involvement of other major players in establishing a superfan market can help.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, Spotify and Amazon Music and other superfan business platforms are growing. And I believe that this is very positive because [it\u2019s] contributing to expanding the superfan business model and market around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the third quarter of 2024, HYBE\u2019s \u201cartist indirect-involvement\u201d segment, which includes Weverse, reported a 31.8% YoY <\/b><\/span>jump<\/a> in revenue to KRW 205 billion<\/b> ($142.7 million).<\/p>\n

Weverse\u2019s monthly active users rose slightly to 9.7 million <\/b>in Q3 from 9.6 million<\/b> in Q2. Weverse subscribers pay around\u00a0USD $24 per year<\/b>\u00a0for benefits including\u00a0exclusive content and announcements from their favorite artists.<\/a><\/p>\n

In December 2024, Weverse launched<\/a> a set of higher-priced membership tiers for users. The new offer, dubbed \u201cdigital membership\u201d will reportedly<\/a> upsell fans into new tiers with prices ranging from $2 <\/b>to $4 <\/b>per month, which will offer additional benefits such as offline access to music and ad-free video streaming.<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/figure>Chartmetric<\/a> is the all-in-one platform for artists and music industry professionals, providing comprehensive streaming, social, and audience data for everyone to create successful careers in music.<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘2024 was a transformative year for Weverse,’ said Joon Choi, President of Weverse Company<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":221634,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,7],"tags":[129816,124425,130640],"class_list":["post-221473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analysis","category-news","tag-hybe","tag-stat-of-the-week","tag-weverse"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}