BNK48: EFFECT OF THE FANS DURING COVID-19

Abstract

BNK48 is an idol group that come to Thailand in 2017. In the same year the 2nd single of them “Koisuru Fortune Cookie” become a famous popular which led to the awareness of BNK48. The idol group was under iAM (Independent Artist Management). Fans are very important to this company because most of the income was from merchandise, concert, and digital content. Without fans, the company will not get a lot of revenue and would not become successful. Since early 2020 the Covid-19 happened this cause an effect company, BNK48 members, and fans. The fan's behavior is not the same as before Covid-19 which is cause their purchase intention changed and this would affect the company. To know more about the behavior of the fans during Covid-19, qualitative method with in-depth interview will be able to find the result of 3 research objectives and research questions. The result showed that the fans still support BNK48 but some start buying fewer products because of differences in purchasing power due to differences in their income which causes different intentions to purchase. In terms of the event there are satisfied with the safety regulation of handshake events during Covid-19 and satisfied with the idea of online activity but still have some improvement as well.