Growing Importance of the Game Streaming Market
Streaming Services Prepare Amid Twitch Weakening
Naver, which is reorganizing its video service business, has pulled out the game streaming (live broadcast) card. Until now, Naver, which has been overshadowed by Netflix and YouTube, plans to enhance its competitiveness in the video service business through a game-specialized service.
Naver Targets Twitch with Full HD Game Streaming Service
Naver plans to launch a new service specialized in game live streaming next year. The video quality will be Full HD 1080p, and a video-on-demand (VOD) replay service will also be provided. The service name has not been decided yet, and beta testing is expected to start as early as this year.
This new service is part of Naver's reorganization of its video service business. Naver first launched ‘Naver TV’ in 2012 to officially enter the online video service (OTT) business. Naver TV is an integrated video streaming platform that allows watching dramas, sports, and entertainment as well as personal broadcasting like YouTube.
However, Naver TV struggled to gain traction, overshadowed by Netflix, YouTube, and others. The dispersed services lacking distinct features were also problematic. Naver’s video services were divided into Naver TV (broadcast), Now (personal broadcasting), Series On (movies), etc., failing to create synergy. Some content, such as streaming, overlapped across services and was ignored by users.
In response, Naver integrated the Naver TV mobile application into Now in March last year and began reorganizing its services. During this process, Naver anticipated further growth in the game streaming market and devised a strategy to launch game streaming, previously offered on Naver TV, as a separate service.
In game streaming, YouTube, Twitch, and AfreecaTV dominate the market. However, as Twitch scaled back its domestic service, an opportunity arose for Naver to enter. Twitch began limiting video quality to a maximum of 720p for its Korean service starting September last year. Additionally, it stopped its VOD replay service in November of the same year. This is why Naver emphasizes Full HD quality and VOD services.
Streaming Technology is Sufficient, Gathering Fan Loyalty is Key
Naver’s streaming technology has already been proven. When Naver live-streamed the ‘2022 Qatar World Cup’ last year, the cumulative viewers reached 100 million, with a peak concurrent connection of 4 million. During the live broadcast of the ‘League of Legends (LoL) World Championship’ (Worlds) finals on the 19th, real-time viewers approached 180,000 without any service issues. With the recent operation of its second data center, ‘Gak Sejong,’ concerns about service disruptions due to increased traffic have also diminished.
The challenge lies in how to attract viewers. Some game streamers conducted streaming via Naver TV, but viewer numbers were negligible. This was because there were no famous streamers, and the streaming ecosystem was not properly established. Most game streamers stream exclusively on specific platforms. This is because platform companies offer advantages in revenue settlement and other benefits when streaming is done solely on their platforms.
Ultimately, Naver is likely to offer exceptional commission benefits to recruit famous streamers. The goal is to attract popular streamers and gather fans to grow the ecosystem. In this process, Naver is expected to link its own services such as Naver Pay. There is also consideration of lowering fees by integrating Naver Pay with the ‘support’ feature, a core function of game streaming. Additionally, if games based on Naver Webtoon are released, Naver is expected to utilize its streaming service.
A Naver official explained, “We have been operating the Naver Game Lounge and Naver eSports page, and through this, we have built a solid game community. We are preparing to enter the game streaming market to further strengthen this community.”
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