Women "overwhelm" at two music nights "Anh trai say hi"
The two concerts became the clearest evidence of the appeal of young artists and the enthusiasm of the fan community in the entertainment industry. Notably, among the tens of thousands of people present at the concert, the female audience accounted for an overwhelming proportion. A male audience member at the event shared with Lao Dong: “In my opinion, 90%, no, maybe 95-96% of the audience at My Dinh watching (the concert) Anh trai say hi were female.”
The appeal of “Anh trai say hi” broke all limits when many female audiences from all over the country, even from localities hundreds of kilometers away such as Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai... disregarded the geographical distance and travel costs to see their idols perform.
Not stopping there, ticket prices from 800,000 VND to several million VND - a significant expense for many people - do not seem to be a big obstacle, preventing enthusiastic hearts from getting closer to their idols. Nguyen Tran Hanh Hoa (Bac Ninh) confided: "I spent 2.2 million VND on tickets, plus expenses for buying lightsticks, banners, posters... - a relatively large amount compared to my current income - to come to the Anh trai say hi music night".
Female audiences are willing to "pour money" for their idols
In fact, the above phenomenon has been part of the idol culture trend that is very popular in many countries around the world, especially in Korea and China.
According to Allkpop, women are the heart and pulse of the K-Pop industry. They are the most loyal, passionate, and willing-to-spend audiences. According to Korea JoongAng Daily, women make up 70-90% of the K-Pop music audience. They not only enjoy and wholeheartedly support their idols' music products, but are also willing to spend money on their favorite groups.
Specifically, in Korea and China, enthusiastic fans often spend a large amount of money to buy items and goods related to their idols such as lightsticks, lomo cards, teddy bears... to other popular fandom cultural activities such as hanging flags, placing banners, sending food trucks, setting up photobooths, renting out-of-home (OOH) advertising... to promote their idols.
Korean culture experts analyze that “women tend to express their emotions more strongly than men”, which makes them the most enthusiastic fans in the entertainment industry. The portrait of an average K-Pop fan is described as a woman in her 20s - 30s, working, spending about 1-2 hours/day and 100,000 won/month (about more than 1.7 million VND/month) on activities to support the music group they admire.
Meanwhile, in China, the so-called “fan” economy is thriving. According to an article from ThinkChina, the fan economy in the “country of a billion people” is mainly driven by young women in their 20s. In addition to spending money on the usual idol merchandise, they are also particularly active in participating in activities such as voting for idols on reality TV shows.
In 2020, a report on the idol industry and fan economy released by China's entertainment portal Owhat showed that among fans willing to spend money on idols, nearly 90% were women born between 1995 and 2001, mainly from economically developed regions such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou in China.
ThinkChina also emphasized that the “fan economy” has become an important part of the “SHEconomy”, contributing significantly to the rise of the female economy in recent years. Pressure from work and society has made idol pursuit a way for many urban women to escape from constraints and freely express themselves.
In addition, the fact that women are more enthusiastic fans also lies in the characteristics of the entertainment industry and personal preferences according to gender. According to Le Ngoc Oanh (Hanoi), the level of enthusiasm of men and women for their idols is equivalent, but is expressed in different fields. "While men are often interested and passionate about fields such as sports, video games..., women show more enthusiasm in the fields of music, entertainment, performance...".
It can be seen that idol culture has gone beyond the boundaries of a temporary trend, becoming a cultural phenomenon with weight in the modern entertainment industry. In particular, the overwhelming presence and influence of women in this industry is increasingly strong.
