V.Live+ is a new addition to the original V App, and offers exclusive content in exchange for V coins which you can purchase in the app.
EXO received the honor of being the first group to share their content on this new service! Through the EXOMENTARY LIVE package, you can receive access to an entire month's worth of never-before-seen content as well as the entire multi-cam experience of their comeback showcase. Overall there's 15 live broadcasts, the showcase multi-cam, 1 actioncam live broadcast, as well as additional behind stories and hidden video gifts. Super awesome deal!
Earlier this week EXO had a total of 9 live broadcasts in two days, each showcasing a special more personal time with the members. You may be thinking "this is just like the regular V.Live, what's different?"
Due to a situation I was only able to catch a few of the live broadcasts, but I'll tell you my impressions of what I saw! Rather than reviewing the actual show content itself, I'd like to review the overall progression of the broadcasts and how worthwhile I think the V.Live+ broadcasts are in relation to the coins you spend to access the content. Even if you aren't an EXO fan I hope this will be a help to you in deciding whether or not you'd like to purchase coins for broadcasts done by other groups!
The first thing I noticed is that these broadcasts were much more structured like TV shows while still being personal.
You can see in the screenshot the tablet with the stream running. The members were constantly checking comments!
The camerawork and set appeared professional, but the progression of the broadcasts were very casual and gave glimpses into sides of the members fans hadn't really had a chance to see before. I found it to be a nice combination of professional broadcasting and casual hang-outs like V App has originally been known for.
There was also a great effort made to make the broadcasts very fan-focused. I noticed this especially in Chen's and Xiumin's radio show. A large portion of their show was dedicated to reading stories from fans and helping them solve their worries! They constantly checked viewer comments for feedback as well.
Another great thing is the personal touch the members brought to their broadcasts. Some cooked, Sehun brought his dog, and then we have Baekhyun....playing LOL.
I know nothing about LOL, so I was extremely confused watching the broadcast. But seeing him having fun and trying so hard to explain the game to everyone watching was really touching. I have to say, I know more about LOL now than I did before the broadcast! My favorite thing about this was being able to see how he acts in casual settings without worrying about any sort of image. It was really refreshing and enjoyable even to someone like me who knows nothing about the game.
I'd also like to mention that each broadcast was quite long, on average an hour in length. Considering each show costs 50 coins (~$1USD), this gives you a lot of content for your money! The quality is also high at 720p.
All of the live broadcasts are available for replay (video on demand) on mobile devices after a certain number of days (to allow for content rating). I think this may be the largest downside, since those who paid for the content but missed the live broadcast will have to wait much longer to see the shows.
As you can see in the screenshots above, there are also subs! These shows are subbed live, so they won't be word-for-word, but you can still understand most of what's going on. The quality of the subs will depend on who is translating at the time, so I did notice that while the subs were excellent for some broadcasts (shout out to Shelbi for being awesome) they were sub-par (ignore my pun) for others. I think the overall quality of subs for the V.Live+ content is something that could be improved upon since paid content ought to be held to a higher standard.
To sum up the Pros/Cons of EXOs V.Live+ broadcasts so far:
Pros
- High quality broadcast
- Fan interaction
- Personal touch
- Broadcast length
- Subs
- Wait for video on demand
- Quality of subs can vary
I hope this overview can help you decide if you'd like to purchase any existing or upcoming V.Live+ broadcasts. In my opinion, the coins are worth it! I really enjoyed the broadcasts I was able to catch and I think this content has the potential to grow into something a lot bigger than the original free content on the app. I also think it's great that you have the option to purchase individual broadcasts for 50 coins each since not everyone can spend money on the entire packages. In this way the app becomes quite affordable for everyone!
If you have any questions about how to purchase and use coins you can check the V app help page. If you're curious about anything regarding V.Live+ feel free to ask me!
BTS is coming up on V.Live+ soon so be sure to keep an eye out~
-Skye
