"Let's Go to Naver and AfreecaTV... Watch the World Cup"

Korea vs Uruguay Match
2 Million on Naver, 1,700 AfreecaTV Broadcasts Opened
'Real-time Cheering' and 'Biased Commentary' Popularity Draws More for Korea-Ghana Match

After the first match of Group H in the Qatar World Cup against Uruguay on the 24th, Son Heung-min of the South Korean national football team is seen giving an interview. (Photo by Naver)

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Office worker Hwang Jemin (34, pseudonym) watched the 2022 Qatar World Cup Korea-Uruguay match on Naver on the 24th. Hwang said, "I have a 38-month-old daughter, so I put her to sleep and quietly watched it on Naver with earphones instead of the TV," adding, "With hundreds of channels available for real-time cheering, I can watch the match that suits my taste, so I think I will watch the Ghana match online as well."

Naver and AfreecaTV are fully enjoying the World Cup boom. Among domestic online media, only Naver and AfreecaTV have the broadcasting rights for the World Cup, attracting millions of viewers. Single-person households without TVs and people who want broadcasts by various BJs (Broadcast Jockeys) cheered for the World Cup matches online instead of the three terrestrial broadcasters KBS, MBC, and SBS.

According to the IT industry on the 28th, about 9 million people watched the Korea-Uruguay match on Naver. The 'Live Cheer Talk,' where viewers can interact in real-time while watching the game, exceeded 2 million concurrent users, and the cumulative number of viewers reached 8.95 million.

Naver's community service 'Open Talk,' launched in September, has established itself as a new way to enjoy the World Cup. Open Talk is a service that allows communication with influencers and reporters on-site in Qatar. The number of Open Talk users during the Korea-Uruguay match was about 490,000, with 100,000 chats left by users.

Naver will provide online broadcasting rights for the Qatar World Cup until the 19th of next month and operate community services and various special pages.

BJ Gamst and former national soccer player Lee Cheon-su are conducting a joint broadcast. (Photo by AfreecaTV)

AfreecaTV also attracted hundreds of thousands of viewers. BJ Gamst's broadcast of the Korea-Uruguay match had over 300,000 viewers. The Japan-Germany match attracted 240,000 viewers, and the Argentina-Saudi Arabia match had 180,000 viewers, with the cumulative number of viewers for World Cup-related broadcasts exceeding 1 million.

On the 24th, when the Korea-Uruguay match took place, the number of broadcasts related to the World Cup opened on AfreecaTV reached about 1,700. In addition to BJ's live broadcasts, AfreecaTV offered services such as match replays and highlight video-on-demand (VOD), as well as various events.

On that day, AfreecaTV held 'World Terrace,' content supporting South Korea. BJ Choigun, former national soccer player Kim Jinkyu, and famous influencer Oking participated in World Terrace. Also, BJs Lee Sangho and Kim Minkyo are scheduled to co-host the World Cup live broadcast with influencer Ghana Ssangtongi.

Meanwhile, the broadcasting rights for this World Cup were purchased by the three terrestrial broadcasters KBS, MBC, and SBS from FIFA for about 120 billion KRW in total, with each paying about 40 billion KRW for the broadcasting rights and Korean market rights. They resold the domestic broadcasting rights they secured to platforms such as OTTs and portals, which were purchased by Naver and AfreecaTV. Although the exact amount is undisclosed, it is known to cost at least several billion KRW.

Regarding this, an IT industry official said, "Platforms other than Naver and AfreecaTV gave up securing World Cup broadcasting rights due to cost-effectiveness, but this World Cup is expected to generate effects beyond the investment cost due to hotter enthusiasm than the previous World Cup," adding, "It is predicted that the Ghana match held today will attract more viewers than the Uruguay match."