Netizens talk about the financial realities of K-pop fansites

In the dynamic landscape of K-pop fandoms, fansites play a pivotal role in capturing and immortalizing the moments of their favorite idols. However, recent discussions among netizens have sparked curiosity about the financial investments made by fansites to maintain their activities.

On January 7th KST, netizens started discussing the financial commitment of various fansites after sharing a screenshot showing how much a NCT's fansite spent in a month. The screenshot showed that he spent 9,697,000 KRW in December alone, which is about 7,376 USD. The original poster added, "This is a screenshot taken back in 2019 so it would cost way more than this now." 

Fansites often spend on travel expenses to follow idols to various events, concerts, and even overseas schedules. They also heavily invest in equipment to capture the best possible content. Under the post, netizens shared their thoughts in the comments: 

"When you follow around all activities for a well-known idol, you easily spend from 9 million KRW to 15 million KRW in a month." 

"I can't believe they can afford that when they can't profit off of their activities, unlike paparazzi abroad."

"One of ENHYPEN's fansite also shared that he spent well over 100 million KRW in a year."

"Well, I don't even run a fansite and I spent about 18 million KRW in a month when my group came back."

"It's either they are living on credit card debt or they are rich."

"From my observation, fansites lose money while fan artists or those who sell unofficial merch make money."

"My friend is a popular fansite and he just comes from a rich family."

"Most of them come from a rich family or have a high income so that they can afford their spending. Not many get a loan that they can't repay."

"A lot of Chinese fansites are just simply well off."

What do you think?