"On the Day Ansan Won Gold, Concurrent Users Surged 8 Times" OTT and Portals Smile at the Olympics

[Asia Economy Reporter Joeslgina] Online video service (OTT) Wave and portal platform Naver, which are live streaming the Tokyo Olympics, are smiling at the unexpected 'Olympic boom' ahead of the closing ceremony on the 8th. Initially, there were concerns that the Olympic fever would not be as strong as in previous years due to the spread of COVID-19, but viewers who were determined to watch live broadcasts flocked, especially for popular events such as soccer and the outstanding performances of Korean athletes in archery and women's volleyball.

When athlete Ansan shot the gold medal in the women's individual archery event, the number of simultaneous viewers on Wave's real-time channel soared to eight times the usual. The women's volleyball match against Turkey, which secured a ticket to the semifinals after a close game, had 1.4 million simultaneous viewers on Naver alone.

According to Content Wave, which operates OTT Wave, the matches with the highest number of simultaneous viewers on real-time channels during the Tokyo Olympics until the previous day were the men's soccer quarterfinal against Mexico (July 31), women's volleyball against Turkey (August 4), men's soccer Group B match against Honduras (July 28), men's soccer Group B match against Romania (July 25), women's individual archery gold medal final (July 30), and men's team archery gold medal final (July 26).

In particular, the women's volleyball match against Turkey on the 4th saw a nearly tenfold increase in simultaneous viewers compared to usual. Despite being on a weekday afternoon, it reached a level similar to the men's soccer match against Mexico, which had the highest simultaneous viewers in the evening. When Ansan won the archery gold medal on the afternoon of the 30th of last month, simultaneous viewers surged more than eight times the usual. A Wave official stated, "Although on-demand video (VOD) viewing usually dominates over live viewing, with the start of the Olympics, live channel viewing rose sharply to about 36% due to demand for live broadcasts."

Live broadcast screen of the Tokyo Olympics on the OTT Wave live channel

Naver is also reaping significant benefits from securing online broadcasting rights. The women's volleyball match against Turkey, featuring player Kim Yeon-kyung, reached 1.4 million simultaneous viewers. The women's individual archery gold medal final had 830,000 viewers, and the men's swimming 100m final featuring athlete Hwang Sun-woo had 700,000 simultaneous viewers. The men's soccer matches against Mexico and Honduras recorded 680,000 and 660,000 simultaneous viewers, respectively.

This is interpreted as a result of increased demand for watching games via smartphones or laptops during travel, rest, or appointments instead of watching on home TVs. Despite concerns that the half-hearted enthusiasm would not justify the broadcasting fees, these platforms secured online broadcasting rights for the Tokyo Olympics as an opportunity to promote their platforms and as a stepping stone to acquire new subscribers.

In the case of Wave, the Olympic boom is evident not only in live broadcasts but also in the existing library. Viewers are flocking to popular content such as 'Youngjae Balguldan,' featuring Kim Je-deok, a two-time men's archery champion, during his elementary school days, and 'Star King,' which introduced table tennis player Shin Yu-bin. Sports content viewing through Olympic-related curation, such as the basketball drama 'Last Match' (243%) and the movie 'Shooting Girls' (1001%), increased nearly tenfold on average. The viewing time rankings of sports entertainment shows featuring celebrities, such as the golf entertainment shows 'Pyeonmeokgo Gongchiri' and 'Golttaerineun Geunyeodeul,' which Wave exclusively pre-releases, also rose sharply.