Idol worship hits fresh highs as new generation rises

Devotion, adoration

From LED screens in New York's Times Square to the walls of subway stations in China and several other countries, posters of young male and female stars along with good wishes from fans are frequently seen occupying advertising spaces. Most of the money to pay for these ads is crowdfunded online by Chinese fan clubs, and their extravagant spending has made headlines several times.

Unlike fan culture in Western countries, where fans are more individualistic and private in their support of their idols and pop stars, fan culture in East Asian countries is collectivist in nature.

This culture of doing things in groups explains crowdfunding for ad boards in prominent public places, buying tickets in groups to sit together at concerts and fan meetings, and organizing charity events and group donations in the name of their idols.

The collectivist culture also leads to highly organized fan club activities, especially in many Chinese and South Korean operations.

Members split duties to handle activities such as collecting and publishing information about their idols' schedules, concert details and news conferences on social media, taking photographs and videos at various events, and organizing the purchase of items such as light sticks and headgear to be worn at concerts.

This is where Owhat enters the picture, providing services that help fans organize their activities along with an online platform on which they can buy and sell items and services related to their idols.

The platform, which prides itself as a business focused on providing value-added services in the fan economy, receives more than 1 million orders for idol-related products every month.

For members of KUN's Fan Club, coming together to undertake charity work is a large part of their activity, in addition to supporting their idol's music and performance-related events. Since the club was established in January last year, the members have donated 300,000 yuan and its various subgroups have organized 50 charity works related to the environment, education and help for the needy.

Stellar future

The idol concept has value, and idols have proven to be entertainers who can communicate with young people in close proximity. Hence, despite the problems currently facing the idol market and fan economy, there are indications that the sector will continue to grow.

Just like the entertainment industry in the United States, Owhat's Ding said that there will be demand for knowledgeable professionals in the idol industry and more specialized jobs will be needed to service both idols and fans.

"There will be more professional service providers," she said. "For example, there will be companies specializing in services such as augmented reality, content, communication and business development. I feel that the industry as a whole will become more and more like the one in the United States."

To fuel the growth of idols' careers, it is important that they and the industry know how to capture fans' hearts. However, as a fan, Cai Xiaolun's wish for the industry's development is simple.

"I hope that all related media and businesses will have an even more open-minded mentality when it comes to treating us fans as customers," she said.

"Fans should do what good fans do, businesses should do what good businesses do, and together we can make the development of the idol industry even more vigorous and positive."

Zeng Jiru contributed to this story.