In celebration of YouTube’s 7th anniversary, Google and Korean broadcaster MBC hosted a special K-pop concert at the Shoreline Amphitheatre near their headquarters in Mountain View, California. Dubbed an appropriately engrish-sounding “MBC Korean Music Wave in Google,” the concert sold all of its 22,000 tickets within half an hour of going on sale a week before. Fans waited in a line that stretched over half a mile to see performances from K-pop acts Super Junior, Girls’ Generation, Wonder Girls, MBLAQ, B2ST, Sistar, and f(x).
The audience also consisted of several thousand Google and YouTube employees and their families and clients, as well as YouTube co-founder Steve Chen and past and present YouTube executives. For the some 3,000 fans that showed up but couldn’t get a seat, they were able to stand and watch, while the worldwide rest watched the mega-event live streamed through YouTube channel YouTubePresents. The three-hour live stream saw more than 190,000 comments being posted.
Indeed, the international popularity of K-pop can in large part be attributed to YouTube as a worldwide venue for K-pop videos. Before the concert, head of YouTube entertainment Alex Carlos said to the audience, “K-pop became a phenomenon. We were very surprised that all 22,000 tickets were sold out within an hour.” Haven’t you been paying attention to one of the biggest video trends on your site, Mr. Carlos?
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