WK League News

The Korean Women’s Football Federation (KWFF) has this week signed a Memorandum of Understanding with entertainment tech company BIGC, with the latter set to build a ‘WK League fandom service’. According to the KWFF, the partnership aims to “expand the fan experience” and “discover new business models”.

BIGC was established in 2021 by CEO Kim Mihee, a KAIST Business School alumna and former Samsung Electronics employee who quit the company in 2015 to create edutech platform Tutoring. With the primary aim of connecting K-pop artists and fans, BIGC has over 1.3 million members, most of whom reside outside of South Korea. The company reportedly aims to become the world’s biggest entertainment platform by bringing various functions including live streaming, VOD, commerce, and data analysis into its so-called “All-in-One Digital Venue”. BIGC works with some of the biggest names in Korean entertainment, connecting stars of the Korean Wave with their fans around the world.

An agreement ceremony was held between the KWFF and BIGC on Wednesday 1 April at the Olympic Parktel in Seoul. Under the agreeement, the KWFF will provide IP, content and data relating to WK League players and clubs, while BIGC will focus on elements such as commerce and marketing, as they develop a WK League fandom service via BIGC’s existing ‘Space’ platform. Space is described by BIGC on their own website as “the official venue where fans and artists come closest”, and a platform that “proposes the beginning of a new fandom”. It is being reported that the “official fandom name” ‘Backers’ is being considered for the proposed fan community.

KWFF Chairman Yang Myung-seok described the agreement as “an opportunity to create a new business model together through close coooperation”, while BIGC CEO Kim Mihee said that cooperation with the KWFF will allow the company to “actualise sports IP-based fandom services” and “create various business opportunities together through platform construction and operation”.