A sociological survey took place between July and September 2020, and the results were finally released. To ensure maximum exposure, the survey was translated into 46 different languages and featured responses from over 100 countries and territories. There is over 40.8 million BTS Army all over the world, and more than 400,000 Army responded instantly to the survey-marking it as one of the biggest survey projects ever done.
BTS had a legion of fans long before it became the first all-South Korean act to top the Billboard Hot 100 with “Dynamite,” or set the world record for attracting the most viewers for a concert live stream during the coronavirus pandemic, or the first band to be #1 on ALL IFPI charts. BTS’ Army captured the attention of international media when it propelled the band to win the fan-voted Top Social Artist, with more than 300 million votes, at the 2017 Billboard Music Awards. BTS ended a six-year winning streak in the category by Justin Bieber. At the time, Bieber boasted more than 100 million followers on Twitter, yet army easily beat him and everyone else.
Who is ARMY?
Army is one of the most active online communities in existence. 40.8+ million members of ARMY, which stands for Adorable Representative M.C. for Youth, subscribe to BTS’ YouTube channel, and more than 34 million follow both the member-run Twitter account and Big Hit’s official BTS Instagram account. ARMY stands apart from other fandoms through the ways it has mobilized with an unrivaled level of organization, driven by a desire to see the seven members of BTS leave their mark in territories previously uncharted by any other pop act from South Korea.
It is often joked that army could easily run a country as the fanbase, mostly active on Twitter, has created their own tutoring society, funding organizations, advice columns, BTS theories society, voting and translation organization, ARMY research and press organization and so much more. No wonder people use bts and army for clout.
ARMY CENSUS : DIVERSITY
The information below was compiled and announced by the conductors of the Army Census survey.
In the survey, over 80,000 of the 400,000-plus people in the survey were from Indonesia and, at 20 percent, Indonesia had the most BTS fans anywhere in the world. Other represented territories included Mexico (10.6 percent), the United States (8.4 percent), Peru (5.12 percent), and the Philippines (4.5 percent).
A mere 3.7 percent (14,996 people) of the fans surveyed were from here in Korea. While the survey does acknowledge penetration issues and getting access to Korean platforms, it seems to suggest that Korea’s most famous cultural product of the last few years is enjoyed more by those overseas than it is by people here. With the survey being conducted mainly on social media, the majority of the respondents were young. Over half of the BTS ARMY that took part (50.31 percent; 202,704) were under 18 years of age; those aged 18-29 accounted for 42.59 percent (171,599). BTS ARMY in their 30s or 40s only totaled 4.24 percent and 2.02 percent respectively.
Looking at some of the other data, 21,450 BTS ARMY members were parents, 1 in 5 have some form of college degree, 0.57 percent have a PhD, and 76.46 percent said that they were either unemployed or students.
The research had the stated goal of not only better understanding BTS fans, but also moving “Beyond The Stereotypes.” They are right to do so.
Also read: ‘You Quiz On The Block’ ft BTS: Highest ratings thanks to BTS, Army performs for BTS
