Companies take advantage of boy band's rising popularity
E-Mart, Korea’s largest discount chain by any meausre, will start to sell BTS figures on April 18, which were manufactured by Funko Inc. of the United States.The retailer said earlier this week that the collectibles will be available throughout its 135 outlets across the country beginning 10 a.m. on the day.E-Mart plans to sell 4,000 figures for each member of the septet, which dropped their comeback album “Map of the Soul: Persona” on April 12 to gain the limelight. The price tag is 16,800 won (around $15).The K-pop sensation amassed more than 100 million YouTube views in less than 38 hours with the album’s title track of “Boy With Luv,” to set the all-time record of the video-sharing platform.BTS also topped iTunes charts across the world and is expected to reach No. 1 in the Billboard 200 albums chart, which will be officially announced on April 21.BigHit Entertainment, which debuted the boy band in 2013, sold BTS figures online last month. They instantly sold out.E-Mart is not the only company that jumps on the BTS bandwagon. Netmarble, one of the country’s biggest game publishers, also strives to take advantage of the surging popularity of the idol group.Netmarble, the second-largest shareholder of BigHit, is developing an online simulation game named “BTS World.” It will feature more than 10,000 photos and 100 story videos of the group members.The Seoul-based game company hopes to publish the much-yearned game during the first half of this year, but it remains to be seen whether it will be able to meet the timeline.In addition, big corporate sponsors line up to hire BTS with the aim of raising their global awareness. BTS did several CF shootings for such companies as LG Electronics, KB Kookmin Bank, SK Telecom and Puma. Related storiesThe world welcomes BTS comeback
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Tim Kim
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