Netflix will exclusively livestream BTS' fifth full-length album 'Arirang' release concert, to be held at 8 p.m. on March 21 at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul, to more than 190 countries.

Some infrastructure issues have occurred during previous livestream events, drawing attention to whether Netflix can handle the large-scale concert smoothly.

Netflix said on March 20 that Open Connect will be used as a single system for the broadcast without an external CDN. The feed will be handled by a relay engineering team from its headquarters, which will travel to South Korea. A Netflix official said, "Top experts are mobilising all of the live know-how accumulated since 2023 and are focusing all efforts on this BTS comeback live broadcast."

Open Connect is Netflix's own CDN. Netflix installs its servers directly on internet service provider networks worldwide to distribute and deliver content. Since its introduction in 2012, more than 1,000 ISPs globally have built partner networks with Netflix.

The issue is that Open Connect is vulnerable to a sharp surge in live-traffic volume. Terrestrial broadcasters using closed networks transmit the same data signal to all viewers at once. Netflix, by contrast, connects each viewer individually to a server. As concurrent viewers increase, server load rises accordingly.

In existing streaming, this structure was not a major problem. If high-demand content is uploaded in advance to Open Connect servers, it can respond easily to traffic increases. Live broadcasts are different. Unlike films and dramas, real-time video cannot be cached in advance and must be delivered simultaneously to tens of millions of sessions, meaning existing infrastructure may not be enough to cover it.

In November 2024, Open Connect was overloaded when 65 million concurrent viewers flocked to a livestream boxing match between world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson and YouTuber-turned professional boxer Jake Paul. Expected viewers for the BTS concert are 50 million, based on an estimate by the organiser HYBE.

Netflix says it has upgraded its infrastructure to secure livestream stability. It said it currently operates a live operations centre in California and has a system to respond immediately to disruptions through real-time monitoring. It plans to add live operations centres in the UK and Asia within this year. That was disclosed directly by co-CEO Greg Peters (그렉 피터스) during an earnings call in January. However, both centres have yet to be established, so they will not be applied to this BTS broadcast.

There is also friction in cooperation with domestic ISPs required for stable broadcasting. Netflix delivers live content to ISP networks through Open Connect servers, and ISPs then deliver it to users in South Korea. If concurrent access surges, ISP networks could be overloaded, making sufficient network capacity critical. Telecommunications industry officials say responsibilities are unclear if problems occur because Netflix does not bear the costs of necessary network expansion. In early February, Netflix only notified ISPs such as KT, SK Broadband and LG Uplus of the expected traffic volume from the BTS livestream.

An official at an ISP company said, "We have taken pre-emptive measures such as expanding international lines and load balancing, but if disruptions occur during the broadcast, user complaints will go to telecom companies, not Netflix." The official added, "Advance traffic notifications are not enough, and practical cooperation from Netflix is needed." Netflix did not provide specific answers on discussions such as peering arrangements with domestic ISPs.