VLIVE has long been a groundbreaking app that makes communication between artists and fans closer. There are many artists and tens of millions of fans around the world who have been using this application.
However, after HYBE's acquisition of VLIVE last year and HYBE's upcoming changes to this application, fans have a lot of discussion. Below are netizens' reactions to HYBE's termination of VLIVE at the end of this year.
In January of last year, HYBE revealed that the fan communication platform Weverse would integrate with NAVER's V LIVE through a strategic alliance. HYBE and VLIVE's handshake shows HYBE's long-term vision and acquisition of this field.
While this may be good news for fans of HYBE groups like BTS, TXT, SEVENTEEN, etc. and some artists who are using the Weverse platform, it's for fans of other artists, it was not a good change due to fear of the content on VLIVE being removed. In this regard, a representative of VLIVE explained in a statement at the time that: "Even if the operator changes, you can use V Live in the same way as before without any inconvenience."
However, not long after, it was announced that the V LIVE service would be maintained for a certain time but would eventually be phased out over time. In July of this year, HYBE announced that they would be terminating V LIVE services at the end of the year, saying, "Existing V LIVE users can continue to use V LIVE until the end of the year when the gradual integration proceeds."
Therefore, many people predict that the V application service will end at the end of 2022. Not only that, some artists also announced the return to other communication platforms with fans like DaumFan Cafe, it showed this can certainly happen.
A netizen asked V LIVE about the termination of the service and content of the artists on the app. It is revealed that all rights to view the content and the artist's channel will disappear upon termination and the channel operator will not be able to use or repost the content on the app. However, for artists on Weverse, their content will automatically be transferred to their Weverse channel.
The exact date and manner in which the service will end has yet to be announced, but VLIVE has stated, "If there is a change in the service, we will notify the user in advance through a notice". Many netizens feel quite worried about the old content on VLIVE along with the unsatisfied reaction because HYBE's Weverse Live application still has many shortcomings such as suddenly disconnecting the livestream, not having many utilities equivalent to VLIVE, not showing the message...:
- I was happy using V app. Goodbye
- Oh my, what's going to happen to NCT?
- I understand by HYBE is getting rid of V app though, they have Weverse
- V LIVE was supposed to end a while back but HYBE took it in and continued it for a while. So it's time to say goodbye
- Oh no, I can't rewatch my artist's videos on the V app anymore?
- I can't believe they're really terminating the app
- What's going to happen to all the artists who are not on Weverse?
- They already revealed their intention on getting rid of V LIVE so, this is not a surprise
- Good thing my favorite artists are on Weverse already.
- Welp, fanbases better get to archiving if they haven't already started. Hybe is going to ruin the entire kpop industry trying to monopolize everything.
- This sucks. V live has been there for so long, it's part of the kpop culture.
- No wonder I've been seeing so many group moving to youtube and instagram live. Honestly vlive is iconic, it's just not the same when streaming on yt and insta. It just got their own vibe and reputation.
- Naver (Vlive's owner) invested in Benx / Hybe (Weverse owner) because they realised they couldn’t compete with the Weverse platform. They even said it themselves, there’s no point in competing but rather to merge and create an even bigger platform. This vlive shut down will not happening if Naver did not invest in Weverse.
