[비즈한국] It has been confirmed that Toss has decided to sponsor the 2026 Busan International Rock Festival, held this October. Toss plans to provide its payment terminal, ‘Toss Front,’ at the festival and conduct various promotions to raise awareness of ‘Face Pay,’ its facial recognition payment service. Face Pay is currently in a competitive race with Naver’s Face Sign. Analysts suggest that Toss’s sponsorship of the rock festival is linked to its need to strengthen the promotion of Face Pay to secure a dominant market position.
‘Face Pay’ Terminals to Be Installed at Festival Payment Booths
The Busan International Rock Festival is an annual autumn rock festival hosted by the city of Busan. According to the Integrated Computer Network for Film Tickets, the event attracted a total of 41,105 attendees last year, ranking it first among domestic music festivals in terms of audience size. It currently forms a duopoly with the Pentaport Rock Festival among domestic rock festivals.
Looking at past sponsors of the Busan International Rock Festival, they were mostly local Busan companies, music-related businesses, or food and beverage firms. Toss’s decision to sponsor the event, despite its lack of direct ties to these sectors, is closely related to its recent business initiatives.
This year, Toss has been focusing heavily on promoting the payment terminals of its subsidiary, Toss Place, and its facial recognition payment service, ‘Face Pay.’ Toss plans to showcase these services at the Busan International Rock Festival as well. According to Toss, ‘Toss Front’ terminals will be installed at booths where payments are accepted. Various promotions are also being prepared. As rock festivals attract a large number of young attendees, installing Toss Front terminals is expected to provide significant promotional benefits.
A Toss official stated, “Since Face Pay is a service that allows payments using only your face, without a wallet or smartphone, an outdoor festival venue is the perfect place to truly experience its convenience. We hope many people will take the opportunity to try Face Pay for themselves at the festival.”
Late Starter Naver’s ‘Face Sign’ Showing Rapid Growth
Toss announced that the cumulative number of Face Pay subscribers exceeded 6 million as of last June. This is a twofold increase in just four months since surpassing the 3 million mark in February. Actual usage is also steadily rising. Among users who have made a payment at least once, 60% continue to use Face Pay as their actual payment method. As of early June this year, the cumulative number of merchant stores equipped with Toss Front terminals capable of Face Pay transactions has exceeded 370,000.
However, it is too early to say that they have captured the market. Naver also launched its own facial recognition payment service, ‘Face Sign,’ in November last year, which is showing steep growth. Naver Pay announced that as of June this year, the number of merchants nationwide using ‘Npay Connect,’ the payment terminal that supports Face Sign, has surpassed 100,000. It also gained significant attention when Naver Chairman Lee Hae-jin used Face Sign to pay after his ‘Samso-maek’ (soju, beer, and makgeolli) meeting with NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang last June.
Currently, it is difficult to predict whether Face Pay or Face Sign will take the lead. For Toss, promoting Face Pay is essential to securing market dominance, and its sponsorship of the Busan International Rock Festival is not unrelated to this goal.
An entertainment industry source commented, “Sponsoring a large-scale event is often more effective than broadcasting because it provides audiences with direct hands-on experience. There is a huge difference between simply watching something and experiencing it for yourself.”