'Olleh TV' with a 12-Year History Surpasses 9 Million Subscribers... First in the IPTV Industry

KT Maintains No.1 Media Platform Position Since 2008
Olleh TV Kidsland and Netflix Partnership, etc.

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] Digital platform company KT announced on the 15th that the number of subscribers to its IPTV service Olleh tv has surpassed 9 million for the first time in the industry. This milestone comes 12 years after the service launch.

Since KT launched Korea's first nationwide commercial IPTV service in 2008, Olleh tv subscribers exceeded 1 million within a year, reached 3 million in 2011, and surpassed 6 million in 2015, showing continuous growth. Along with this, KT has led the IPTV industry as Korea's number one media platform by continuously introducing innovative services such as 'Olleh tv UHD' in 2013 and the AI TV 'Giga Genie' in 2017.

‘Olleh tv Kidsland,’ which offers the largest collection of over 60,000 kids’ contents and has received great support from many parenting households in the post-COVID-19 era, and the partnership with the global OTT service Netflix are also key factors in Olleh tv’s growth.

To celebrate surpassing 9 million Olleh tv subscribers, KT is holding the ‘Olleh tv 9 Million Commemoration Customer Appreciation Event’ until August 20, offering various viewing benefits and prizes to its customers. First, since the end of last month, every Friday, Olleh tv customers have been able to watch the ‘Summer Drama Collage’ for free.

Summer Drama Collage features three new dramas produced or carefully selected by KT. Starting from last month’s 28th, KT Studio Genie adapted the web novel IP of the same name owned by Storywiz into a drama titled ‘Shh! Please Take Care of That Guy,’ and new drama episodes are released sequentially for free every Friday. These can be viewed under the Olleh tv menu ‘TV Replay > Olleh tv Originals.’ Two more original dramas, a mystery thriller and a horror genre drama, are scheduled to be released on the 18th of this month and the 30th of next month, respectively.

KT is also running a Summer Drama Collage viewing certification photo event. Customers who take a photo while watching the content and post it publicly on their social media accounts will be entered into a draw to win Olleh tv coupons worth 3,000 KRW each for 900 winners. The required hashtags are ‘#Ollehtv9Million #KT #CertifiedDramaTitle’.

Additionally, KT is jointly celebrating surpassing 9 million Olleh tv subscribers and 6 million Giga Internet subscribers by hosting a ‘KT Shop Prize Event’ for new customers at the official KT online mall, KT Shop. All customers who newly subscribe to Giga Internet 500 Mbps or higher and Olleh tv Essence or higher plans together will receive a 30,000 KRW cultural gift certificate. A lottery will also award prizes including Apple Watch 6, Picnic UV chargers, and BBQ Golden Olive Chicken sets (200 winners). The KT Shop prize event runs until the end of July.

Kim Hoon-bae, Executive Vice President of KT Media Platform Business Division, said, “Various contents secured through the KT Group media platform value chain are being provided as benefits for Olleh tv subscribers, strengthening the virtuous cycle of the group’s media capabilities. We will continue to boldly invest in innovative services and content to always offer new viewing experiences and differentiated services to Olleh tv customers and maintain our leadership in the domestic pay-TV market.”