‘KCON 2022 Premiere’ Wraps Up Successfully Meeting Fans in Korea, Japan, and the US (Chicago and Los Angeles)

KCON 2022 Premiere wrapped up its series of events that stretched from Korea (5/7~8), Japan (5/14~15) and the U.S. (5/20~21). The entire KCON 2022 Premiere series was enjoyed by over 6 million global KCON fans across 171 regions of which 50,000 fans were in attendance in-person at the three premieres. 

KCON 2022 Premiere was packed with new content reflecting the trends of Gen Z fans and programs tailored specifically for local fans. Each region had its own ‘quest’ concept event and various programs that ran throughout the day.

Korea featured the “MASTER QUEST” with signature photo zones and photo mission events at the heart of K-pop in Seoul. Japan featured a “DUGEUN DUGEUN QUEST.” This included programs where artists were able to interact closely with fans: a KCON cafe, where fans could purchase their own customized drink of their favorite artist and series of KCON’s signature meet and greets.

In Los Angeles and Chicago, the theme was “BEAT RUN QUEST.” U.S. fan favorite programs returned including dance workshops that ran throughout the day taught by popular influencers LALARY and Ellen & Brian. The dance workshop was followed by a live viewing event of the Chicago concert.

This year, fans experienced an upgraded version of KCON, as KCON 2022 Premiere brought together both offline and online K-pop fans as a successful hybrid event. 

KCON 2022 Premiere incorporated new elements into its events to provide an exciting KCON experience whether fans joined virtually or in-person. This included interactive aspects including having fans send emojis to artists, immersive technology to enhance the viewing experience for online viewers and a live viewing party in L.A. for fans to view KCON 2022 Premiere in Chicago. The star-studded concert lineup was as follows:

– SEOUL: KEY, MONSTA X, NiziU, NMIXX, STAYC, THE BOYZ, TO1, HIGHLIGHT, and the artists from Mnet’s ‘Queendom’ including BraveGirls, HYOLYN, Kep1er, LOONA, VIVIZ, WJSN

– TOKYO: ENJIN, INI, JO1, OCTPATH, OWV, TO1

– CHICAGO: BTOB, CRAVITY, NMIXX, STAYC, TO1

“We are excited to meet fans for the first time since our last offline event in September 2019” said Don Kim, General Manager of Live Entertainment Business at CJ ENM, “KCON is evolving into a hybrid festival providing not only offline festivities but also immersive online content that K-pop fans around the globe can enjoy together as well. This KCON 2022 Premiere series was just a taste of what fans can experience at KCON LA coming up soon in August.”

KCON to Return to Los Angeles and Tokyo

KCON will return to the Los Angeles Convention Center and Cyrpto.com Arena in August and Tokyo in October. With the successful launch of KCON 2022 Premiere, the KCON team plans to continue expanding the KCON experience to fans all over the world by providing a hybrid digital and offline experience for its future events.

First held in 2012 in the U.S., KCON played an instrumental role in spreading K-culture, amassing 1.1 million fans across 9 cities/regions including North America, Europe, Asia, etc. From its first event that attracted 10,000 visitors, KCON has seen an incredible growth gathering 291,000 visitors in 2019 (the last in-person event) which was 29 times its inaugural year audience. During the pandemic, its digital rendition, KCON:TACT, met more than 22.45 million K-pop fans in the last two years, pushing the event’s boundaries even further as a virtual festival that enables fans to enjoy K-culture anywhere, anytime.