Mnet Plus Doubles Viewership as KCON LA 2026 Streams to 250 Regions

Mnet Plus, the global K-pop content platform run by CJ ENM, drew a sharp jump in engagement around KCON LA 2026, according to figures shared by the company. Paid and free views of related content roughly doubled compared with the previous year.

The platform streamed the main stages of KCON LA 2026 to more than 250 regions worldwide. It also rolled out companion programming built around the event, including the original variety shows "KCON, Meet My Friend" (Kekonchinguleul Sogaehamnida) and "WIDE K-POP NEWS," which followed artists off the main stage. The goal was to let fans who could not attend in person still experience KCON online.

The audience skewed young and international, but not only young. Compared with the platform's overall user base, viewers in their teens made up about 1.9 times the usual share, and viewers 40 and older made up about three times the usual share. Traffic came from the United States, South Korea, China, Japan, Indonesia and other markets. Women made up about 85 percent of viewers.

The clearest hit was "KCON, Meet My Friend," an original series in which artists appeared before their sets to share prep footage and behind-the-scenes moments. The show took all five top spots for both live streams and video-on-demand during the event window.

The viewing pattern did not stop with KCON stages. More than eight out of 10 users who watched an artist's KCON content went on to watch other clips or K-pop videos from that same artist on the platform.

The activity carried over to the venue itself. Over the three days of KCON LA 2026, the digital queue system logged about 40,000 uses. On-site experience booths ran photo zones tied to the original shows "Hide and Seek 2" (Sumbakkokjil 2) and "Yeonji Gonji," along with the large-scale girl group debut project "Girls Planet 2027."

The DJ BOX Random Play Dance drew hundreds of participants per session. On the final day, the run time was extended by more than an hour to keep up with demand. Artists including ALPHA DRIVE ONE, KickFlip and RESCENE stopped by the booths to meet local fans.

"Through KCON LA 2026, we saw global fans enjoy a wide range of K-pop content online while also using Mnet Plus in a natural way on the ground," a company representative said. "We plan to keep expanding services and content that let fans experience global K-pop in a more layered way, in line with how they actually want to use it."

Mnet Plus serves global K-pop fans through live streaming, video-on-demand and original programming.