Brunch vs Premium Content... Kakao and Naver Compete in Content Platforms

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Kakao and Naver are competing in platforms for creators. Naver officially launched its paid content platform ‘Premium Contents,’ differentiating itself from Kakao’s representative content platform ‘Brunch.’

Naver officially launched the paid content platform ‘Premium Contents’ on the 18th. Premium Contents is a paid content platform where creators can sell content on Naver and users can subscribe. It was beta-launched in May last year. As an open platform where anyone can generate revenue if they have competitive content, Naver provides a series of functions necessary for creators to sell content, including content publishing, sales, data analysis, and settlement.

With this official launch, anyone can join as a Premium Contents creator and publish and sell content. Creators who meet certain conditions can open up to two channels. During the beta period, only some CPs partnered with Naver could participate, but with the transition to an open platform, creator participation is expected to increase, enriching the content available for users to enjoy. Currently, more than 200 channels have been opened on Premium Contents.

Naver explained that through Premium Contents, professional creators can have their content value recognized and diversify their revenue based on a paid subscriber base. In fact, during the nine-month beta period, the transaction amount through Premium Contents reached 480 million KRW, and more than 20 channels earned over 1 million KRW per month. Among them, some channels even achieved monthly earnings exceeding 10 million KRW.

Naver’s Premium Contents is expected to compete with Kakao’s ‘Brunch.’ Brunch is Kakao’s content publishing platform launched in June 2015, with the number of registered writers surpassing 50,000, making it a representative content platform.

Works introduced on Brunch have led to publications, with about 2,900 of the 50,000 Brunch writers having published books, totaling approximately 4,600 titles. ‘Welcome to Hyunamdong Bookstore’ was published as an e-book, ranked first on Millie’s Library comprehensive chart, and later was published as a paper book. ‘The Sadness of Young ADHD’ surpassed its 7th printing within six months after its June 2021 publication.

In February, Brunch will collaborate with ‘Class101’ to hold the ‘Brunch Book AI Class Project’ contest. This event will produce online classes based on the winning works, using virtual creators to create content instead of the authors appearing themselves.