Pop star Ariana Grande is joining Weverse, a superfan platform owned by HYBE, the entertainment company that manages the K-Pop sensation BTS. Here’s what we know about Weverse and why more global pop stars are flocking to the app.
What is the Weverse app?
Weverse is an app designed to facilitate interactions between artists and their fans. Artists can post updates, livestream, and sell merchandise on the app. HYBE has described Weverse as a ‘super app’ with machine translation in 15 languages.
When Jin, the eldest member of BTS, spoke to fans on Wednesday after completing his 18-month military service, his initial livestream crashed but then resumed, garnering over 2 million views in just 10 minutes.
Launched in 2019, the app had more than 10 million monthly active users on average in the third quarter of 2023, according to HYBE. Nine out of ten Weverse users are international.
Why is Ariana Grande joining Weverse?
Grande is joining the app following a partnership with HYBE America, the entertainment firm announced on Friday without providing additional details.
Her channel has not yet launched, and HYBE did not confirm the opening date.
HYBE America, which also manages Justin Bieber and The Kid LAROI, will continue to collaborate with Grande’s cosmetics brand R.E.M Beauty, the company added.
This new partnership follows a Billboard report last year stating that Grande was parting ways with manager Scooter Braun, who had managed her since her debut in 2013. Braun is now the CEO of HYBE America following a $1.05 billion merger in 2021 between HYBE and his Ithaca Holdings.
The news of Grande’s partnership was met with amusement from K-Pop fans online.
“Ariana unnie,” one fan commented on X, using a Korean honorific for older sister.
Japanese pop duo Yoasobi, who attended a state dinner at the White House with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in April, also launched their channel on Weverse earlier this month.
What does HYBE seek to gain?
In a 2022 interview, Weverse President Joon Choi told Reuters that the platform’s users are “superfans characterized by passionate engagement.”
“They bought merch here, watched videos there, communicated elsewhere … We didn’t have a database of our customers. So, we began developing each service in-house,” he explained in the interview.
The app’s growth aligns with HYBE’s broader expansion efforts, including its acquisition of Exile Music, a music label of the Spanish-language media company Exile Content, marking its first major move into the Latin music market.