Not to be confused with Run (BTS song).
Run BTS
Alt name
  • Run BTS!
  • Run BTS! 2.0
GenreVariety show
StarringBTS
Open theme
CountrySouth Korea
LanguageKorean
Num seasons4
Num episodes159[a]
13 specials[b]
NetworkV Live
Weverse
YouTube
First airedAugust 1, 2015
Last airedpresent
RelatedRun Jin

Run BTS (Korean: 달려라 방탄; also stylized as Run BTS!) is a South Korean variety web series starring boy group BTS. The series broadcasts weekly and has been offered for free viewing on V Live since 2015, Weverse since 2020, and YouTube since 2022. In each episode, the band members play games or participate in a variety of activities that require them to complete challenges, and sometimes carry out secret missions, in order to earn prizes or receive punishments.

Three seasons of the series, comprising 156 episodes, have been released since it premiered on August 1, 2015, with new episodes airing every Tuesday. From August 16, 2022, a special 10-episode season—the first since a 10-month-long hiatus after season three ended in October 2021—was released.

The series returned as Run BTS! 2.0 starting April 23, 2026. A prologue episode was released on April 7, which focused on their discussions regarding the revamped program's schedules and plans.

Format

Each episode of Run BTS features the members of BTS taking on activities relevant to the episode's theme, usually in the form of games, missions, or challenges, with the promise of a prize(s) if they are successful, or punishments if they fail.[1] The members tackle each task as a group, individual teams, or on a solo basis if required. Special episodes occasionally feature non-competitive activities, such as a fashion show, skits, or drama-making. Most episodes are led by an MC, with one of the members filling the role of host for the day, and the production staff who facilitate the missions. Jin and Suga serve as MCs the most often—J-Hope, RM, and V have intermittently assumed MC duties as well. For episodes with missions that require the full group's participation, all members act as presenters.

Episode runtimes initially spanned 8–15 minutes. From the second season onwards, they were increased to 20–40 minutes. In 2020, they were further expanded to a more consistent runtime of 30–40 minutes.[2] Short clips of exclusive behind-the-scenes footage are uploaded after each episode airs. Originally posted on the paid BTS+ V Live fan ship channel beginning in 2017,[3] Big Hit Entertainment moved the clips to its official fan community platform Weverse beginning January 16, 2020, as exclusive subscription-based paid content.[4]

Episodes

Series overview

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Promotion

BTS uploaded two videos advertising the then-upcoming new variety show to their V Live channel on February 28, 2015. The first video received 242,000 views and 2.24 million likes, and the second received 100,000 views and 87,000 likes within three days of being posted.[5]

Release

The first season of Run BTS premiered on V Live, a South Korean live video streaming service, on August 1, 2015.[6] Episodes generally aired every Tuesday, except for when an episode of BTS Gayo was released instead. The series went on a year-long hiatus after the January 5, 2016, episode. The second season premiered on January 31, 2017.[7] The series began consistently airing new episodes weekly as of the May 23, 2017, episode. The third season premiered on January 1, 2019.[8] In 2020, the season's broadcast was paused twice: first for the airing of the band's documentary series Break The Silence in May, and then for their new reality show BTS In the Soop, which ran from the second week of August until the third week of October. In 2021, the series went on a brief hiatus from the beginning of May through mid-June to accommodate promotions for the release of the band's new song at that time.[9] This was followed by a second temporary hiatus in October—after the season three finale on the 12th[10]—for the airing of the second season of BTS In the Soop which premiered on the 15th.[11]

In June 2022, during BTS' ninth-anniversary celebrations, the band announced they would be focusing more on solo endeavours going forward, but emphasized that they would continue filming Run BTS as a group.[12] A two-part special—the first new episode in 10 months—premiered on August 16.[13] This marked the first time an episode was officially made available on YouTube. Several weeks prior, Hybe announced that subsequent episodes would also be uploaded to the platform,[14] but did not provide a release schedule at the time.[15]

The series returned as Run BTS! 2.0 starting April 23, 2026. A prologue episode was released on April 7, which focused on their discussions regarding the revamped program's schedules and plans. [16]

TV broadcast

On July 10, 2018, domestic news media announced that cable music channel Mnet would begin airing eight of the most popular Run BTS episodes on television at 6 pm KST every Wednesday night beginning July 11 for eight weeks.[17] Season 2's "MT" (Ep.17–18) and "Manito" (Ep. 23–24) episodes were among those selected.[18] The eighth and final episode aired on August 29.[17] In 2020, Mnet announced on August 6 that it would once again be airing eight of the most popular episodes from among those released between 2019 and 2020 as a summer vacation television special—the 100th Episode Special, Avatar Cooking King, and Photo Exhibition episodes were included in the lineup.[19] Episodes aired every Thursday night at 8 pm KST from August 6 for eight weeks until September 24.[19] The network additionally aired the Season 3 2019 episode, "Hangul Day Special", on October 1 as a Chuseok special.[20]

On April 1, 2021, South Korean cable television network JTBC announced a 10-week long Spring special programming block of content from Hybe Labels artists that began airing that same date on JTBC2—every Thursday night at 7:30 pm KST. Run BTS was included in the lineup for BTS. Two new episodes of the series premiered on television first, and then on Weverse and V Live afterwards.[21][22]

Reception

Accolades

Run BTS was nominated for and won Best V Original at the 2018 V Live Awards.[23]

Spin-off: Run Jin

Run Jin
GenreVariety show
StarringJin of BTS
Open theme
CountrySouth Korea
LanguageKorean
Num seasons1
Num episodes36
NetworkWeverse
YouTube
First airedAugust 13, 2024
Last airedMay 27, 2025

Shortly after his discharge and the completion of his mandatory military service in June 2024, Jin announced the launch of his own variety series Run Jin, a spin-off the boy band's own variety show Run BTS.[24]

The premiere episode was filmed five days after his discharge[25] and aired on August 13, with subsequent episodes released weekly on both YouTube and Weverse in the time slot previously occupied by Run BTS.[24][26]

Notes

  1. ^ The series counts Season 1's "Confession" as one episode, though counting each subsequent multi-part episode as more than one episode. This article counts "Confession" as two episodes. As such, the series' overall number of episodes will always differ by one compared to what is displayed in-show.
  2. ^ Special season + Thailand special + 2 Director's Cut

References

  1. ^ Kelley, Caitlin (May 17, 2018). "How to Get Into BTS: A Primer for ARMY Recruits". Billboard. Archived May 18, 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved November 25, 2018.
  2. ^ Yoo, Soo-kyung (October 13, 2021). "ko:'달방' 방탄소년단 뷔·지민, 귀여움이 한도 초과" (in Korean). Hankook Ilbo. Archived August 17, 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved August 17, 2022. – via Naver
  3. ^ [CH+] BTS Channel+ Open!! (Online video). South Korea: BTS. January 19, 2017. Archived March 22, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 21, 2021. – via Vlive.
  4. ^ Kang, Ing-gu (January 16, 2020). "ko:위버스, 'BTS 비하인드' 오픈… 미공개 이미지 등 독점 콘텐츠 공개" [Weverse opens 'BTS Behind'… Exclusive contents such as unreleased images are released] (in Korean). Money S Economic News. Archived February 3, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved January 14, 2021. – via Naver News.
  5. ^ Park, Hyun-min (August 1, 2015). "ko:[뮤직톡톡]방탄소년단, 글로벌 팬수 1위 등극…'V앱' 팬 12만↑" [[Music Talk Talk] BTS topped the list of global fans...120,000 'V App' fans ↑] (in Korean). Osen. Archived February 3, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved January 29, 2021. – via Naver
  6. ^ Kim, Ga-young (July 31, 2015). "ko:방탄소년단, 8월 1일 'V' 출격…'달려라 방탄' 최초 공개" [BTS to 'V' August 1st…"Run BTS" released for the first time.] (in Korean). TV Report. Archived January 29, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved January 29, 2021. – via Naver
  7. ^ Park, Soo-jung (January 31, 2017). "ko:'V앱' 방탄소년단, 슈가 여장부터 전교1등 뷔까지..입덕 부른 콩트(종합)" ['V App' BTS, from Suga dressing up as a female student to V who is the top student in the school. A skit that made people fall in love (Comprehensive)] (in Korean). Herald POP. Archived January 29, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved January 29, 2021. – via Naver
  8. ^ Hwang, Hye-jin (December 26, 2018). "ko:방탄소년단 '달려라 방탄' 시즌3, 1월1일 첫방송 확정 '눈물까지'" [BTS 'Run BTS' Season 3, first broadcast confirmed to air on January 1st, 'Tears'.] (in Korean). Newsen. Archived January 29, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved January 29, 2021. – via Naver
  9. ^ Kim, Soon-shin (August 6, 2021). "ko:'내가 왕이 될 상인가' 방탄소년단 진, 한달만에 돌아온 달방 조선시대 관상가로 변신" [BTS Jin, who returned after a month, transformed into a Joseon physiognomy artist.] (in Korean). TenAsia. Archived August 9, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved August 9, 2021. – via Naver
  10. ^ Moon, Wan-sik (October 16, 2021). "ko:'LV홈피 25개국 완판' 방탄소년단 지민, 브이라이브 귀걸이→후드 품절..'휠라' 멤버 첫 솔드아웃 '브랜드킹 파워'" (in Korean). Star News. Archived August 17, 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved August 17, 2022. – via Naver
  11. ^ Burt, Kayti (October 13, 2021). "Run BTS: Is the Variety Show Ending?". Den of Geek. Archived October 19, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
  12. ^ Burt, Kayti (June 15, 2022). "All The BTS TV and Web Series to Watch From Chapter One". Den of Geek. Archived June 17, 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved October 11, 2022.
  13. ^ Lee, Da-gyeom (August 16, 2022). "ko:방탄소년단, 10개월만 '달려라 방탄' 컴백...샴페인 자축" (in Korean). Maeil Business News. Archived August 18, 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved August 17, 2022. – via Naver
  14. ^ "BTS to resume 'Run BTS' variety show after 10-month break". Yonhap News. August 2, 2022. Archived August 2, 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved August 17, 2022. – via The Korea Herald
  15. ^ Lee, Jian (August 2, 2022). "BTS's web variety show 'Run BTS' to return with new episodes this month". Korea JoongAng Daily. Archived August 2, 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
  16. ^ Jang, Da-hee (March 31, 2026). "'달려라 방탄' 돌아온다…'BTS 2.0' 맞춰 새로워진 기획 예고" ['Run BTS' Returns... Teasing Out New Concepts for 'BTS 2.0'] (in Korean). Retrieved 2026-03-31.
  17. ^ Yim, Hyun-su (July 10, 2018). "Mnet to air 'Run BTS' on small screen starting Wednesday". The Korea Herald. Archived July 10, 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved November 20, 2018.
  18. ^ Yoo, Byung-cheol (July 10, 2018). "ko:방탄소년단, 리얼 버라이어티 예능 '달려라 방탄' 엠넷에서 11일 첫 방송" [BTS, Real Variety Entertainment 'Run BTS' on Mnet for the first time on the 11th] (in Korean). Korea Economic TV Daily. Archived November 5, 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved February 4, 2021. – via Naver.
  19. ^ Hwang, Hye-jin (August 6, 2020). "ko:방탄소년단 웹예능 ‘달려라 방탄’ 여름방학 특집 편성, 6일 첫방" (in Korean). Newsen. Archived January 14, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved January 14, 2021. – via Naver.
  20. ^ "ko:#방탄소년단 의 대유잼 리얼 버라이어티🔥 Mnet <#달려라방탄> 마지막을 장식할 한글날 특집💌 뛰는 자 위에 나는 자🔥 반전의 대반전 숨 막히는 추격전이 펼쳐집니다🏃 오늘 저녁 8시 #Mnet <달려라 방탄> 최종회 함께해요💜 #RUNBTS #BTS #RM #진 #슈가 #제이홉 #지민 #뷔 #정국 #엠넷 @BTS_twt" [#BTS's Super Fun Reality Variety Show🔥 Hangul Day Special to end Mnet's <#Run BTS>💌 A flying guy over a runner🔥 There's gonna be a breathtaking chase with a twist🏃 Let's have the final episode of #Mnet's <Run BTS> tonight at 8 p.m.💜 #RUNBTS #BTS #RM #Jin #Suga #J-Hope #Jimin #V #Jungkook #Mnet @BTS_twt] (in Korean). No. 1311531977237958657. October 1, 2020. Archived February 16, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
  21. ^ "ko:JTBC2, BTS·세븐틴·투모로우바이투게더 콘텐트 특집 편성" [JTBC2, BTS, Seventeen and Tomorrow by Together content specially organized] (in Korean). JTBC. April 1, 2021. Archived April 14, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved April 14, 2021. – via Naver.
  22. ^ Lee, Jeong-hyun (April 1, 2021). "ko:JTBC2, BTS·세븐틴·투모로우바이투게더 콘텐트 특집 편성" [JTBC2, BTS, Seventeen, and TXT Special 10-week program] (in Korean). Yonhap News. Archived April 14, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved April 14, 2021. – via Naver.
  23. ^ "[V Report] Roundup of BTS, GOT7, WJSN's V Live award party". Kpop Herald. February 28, 2019. Archived July 17, 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
  24. ^ "Jin of BTS to launch own show 'Run Jin' this August". GMA News Online. July 31, 2024. Archived April 23, 2025 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved April 23, 2025.
  25. ^ "BTS' Jin unveils the first episode of 'Run Jin' reality show". The Times of India. August 13, 2024. Archived April 23, 2025 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved April 23, 2025.
  26. ^ "Jin of BTS kicks off his variety show 'Run Jin' with a hiking adventure". GMA News Online. August 15, 2024. Archived April 23, 2025 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved April 23, 2025.