How Samsung Is Using K-Pop Concerts to Win the Hardware War

Samsung TV Plus is streaming live K-pop concerts from SM Entertainment every month, free, directly on Samsung TVs. The series launches May 30. No subscription. No paywall.

The series is called the Monthly SM Concert. It kicks off with NCT WISH's first concert tour, "INTO THE WISH: Our WISH ENCORE IN SEOUL," broadcast live from KSPO Dome in Seoul. After the premiere, the SMTOWN channel on Samsung TV Plus will carry encore programming and new concert streams every Saturday. Additional SM artists and concert streams are to be announced, with Samsung promising performances throughout the year.

This is not a small experiment. It is a deliberate play to use premium content as a hardware advantage.

Free Content as a Competitive Weapon

Samsung TV Plus already reaches 100 million users across 30 countries, running roughly 4,300 channels and more than 66,000 on-demand titles. But scale alone doesn't keep people loyal to a TV brand. Content does.

K-pop streams on Spotify surged 362% globally over the past five years, with Southeast Asia up 423%. The Monthly SM Concert is available in Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Mexico, and South Korea, all markets with significant K-pop fanbases. It airs free every Saturday on the exclusive SMTOWN and STN channels. That is a genuine differentiator that shows up every week on devices people already own.

SmartThings Makes the Living Room Feel Like a Venue

Samsung is using its SmartThings platform to make watching feel more immersive. Viewers can set reminders via SmartThings on a smartphone or Samsung TV before each stream. For homes with compatible connected Samsung devices, SmartThings can also automatically adjust sound and lighting settings to match the concert atmosphere.

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It is a subtle integration. The concert becomes a reason to use more of the Samsung ecosystem, not just the screen itself.

A Partnership With a Track Record

This is not the first Samsung-SM collaboration. When SM Entertainment hosted SMTOWN LIVE 2025 in L.A., its 30th anniversary concert, Samsung TV Plus served as the exclusive global livestream platform, reaching audiences across 18 countries. The Monthly SM Concert series is the recurring, structured version of that proven model.

SM Entertainment is also running a sophisticated distribution strategy more broadly, with Tencent Music Entertainment covering China, regional partners in Southeast Asia, and HYBE's Weverse handling global fan communities. Samsung TV Plus fills the live concert streaming layer in its target markets.

Samsung TV Plus Competes on Content Where Netflix Spends Billions

Netflix has committed US$2.5 billion to Korean content through 2027. Every major streaming platform is fighting for K-content exclusivity. Samsung TV Plus is competing without writing those same checks.

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Instead of acquiring rights outright, Samsung is partnering to turn its device footprint into a distribution advantage. The strategy makes Samsung TVs more valuable by attaching them to content that can't easily be found elsewhere. It costs far less than a Netflix-scale content war, and it creates weekly reasons for users to stay inside the Samsung ecosystem.

For SM Entertainment, the deal opens a free-to-air channel that reaches fans who might never pay for a streaming subscription but will absolutely watch a live K-pop concert on Saturday night.

Both sides gain measurable distribution benefits from the arrangement.