Naver to Live Stream the World Baseball Classic

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Naver announced on the 21st that it will live broadcast the 'World Baseball Classic (hereinafter WBC)' held from the 8th to the 21st of next month, and plans to operate various events including Open Talk.

Naver will live broadcast all 47 games of the WBC, an international baseball tournament held for the first time in six years since 2017, and provide highlight videos. The WBC, featuring 20 countries and 186 active Major League Baseball players, will take place during prime times at 12 PM and 7 PM. The Korea-Japan match, held for the first time in about 14 years since the 2009 WBC, is drawing great attention.

Naver expects active communication during the WBC tournament on its community service 'Open Talk,' launched last September, as baseball is highly popular.

As of the 20th, Naver's baseball and overseas baseball category Open Talks have reached 924, and about 3,000 Open Talks have been created overall, gathering various users based on common interests. It provides various search results related to the WBC, such as participating countries and players, introduces a cheering function by player, and has prepared events to support the success of the Korean national team.

Jungeonbeom Ju, leader of Naver Sports, said, "Naver has targeted fans by live broadcasting global sports events such as the Qatar World Cup, which recorded over 100 million cumulative viewers and more than 4 million simultaneous connections, the Tokyo Summer Olympics, and the Beijing Winter Olympics, and by introducing next-generation community services. Starting with this year's WBC, Naver will do its best to operate successful communities so that the enthusiasm continues through the KBO League opening in April."

Meanwhile, South Korea, belonging to Group B with Australia, Japan, the Czech Republic, and China, will start with the match against Australia at 12 PM on March 9, followed by the Korea-Japan match at 7 PM on the 10th. If advancing to the knockout tournament as one of the top two teams in the group, they are expected to play up to seven games.