Sports Content Followed by Hit Drama Creation
From Maintaining to Attracting Members as a Medium
Coupang's online video service (OTT) 'Coupang Play' has recently released a series of hit works, drawing attention to whether the number of new members for Coupang's paid membership, 'Wow Membership,' will increase further. Wow Membership is a service available for a monthly fee of 4,990 KRW, offering same-day and dawn delivery, free returns, and unlimited viewing on Coupang Play. It is credited with increasing the number of regular Coupang users and contributing to improved performance.
According to Coupang's earnings report on the 15th, the number of active customers in the third quarter of last year was 20.42 million, an increase of about 2.3 million (8.56%) from 18.11 million in the same period last year.
Since its introduction in October 2018, Wow Membership reached 150,000 members within a week, surpassed 10 million members in 2021, and recorded 11 million members as of December 2022. Coupang expects that the number of new Wow Membership subscribers has increased further in line with the sharp rise in active customers last year.
Behind this confidence lies Coupang Play. Coupang Play was launched in December 2020 with the purpose of enhancing the benefits of Wow Membership. By paying a monthly membership fee of 4,990 KRW, members can enjoy unlimited video streaming services provided by Coupang Play. Initially, Coupang Play lagged behind OTT latecomers like TVING and Wavve due to limited content. Although SNL Korea, aired the following year, made efforts, it could not escape criticism for having inferior content compared to existing OTT platforms.
Coupang Play began to stand out in the OTT market by hosting the 'Coupang Play Series,' which invited major overseas football clubs to Korea. Top English Premier League (EPL) clubs such as Manchester City and EPL Tottenham Hotspur FC, where national team player Son Heung-min plays, visited Korea to play matches. These matches were broadcast live through Coupang Play, attracting sports fans, especially in their 20s and 30s, to Coupang.
Industry insiders believe that Coupang Play's sports content has attracted over one million Wow Membership subscribers. In fact, before Coupang Play introduced sports content, the number of Wow Membership subscribers was only 9 million, but it has since exceeded 11 million (as of December 2022). An industry official said, "Since matches can only be watched on Coupang Play and tickets can be obtained there, it likely had an effect on generating new customers."
Last year, Coupang Play further solidified its position in the market by producing hit original dramas beyond sports content. A representative work is 'Boyhood,' released in November last year. Set in Buyeo, Chungnam in 1989, Boyhood is a 10-episode comedy drama centered on high school student Byeong-tae (played by Im Si-wan), whose dream is to live peacefully without conflict. It received 350,000 reviews within Coupang Play and ranked first in playback among all original content. Riding on the popularity of Boyhood, Coupang Play recorded 6.64 million monthly active users in December last year, an increase of about 1.6 million from the previous month.
Industry analysts say Coupang Play has grown as a key factor in increasing Wow Membership subscribers. Coupang also believes that the growth of Coupang Play last year drove the increase in membership numbers. An industry insider said, "Rocket Direct Purchase and Rocket Fresh contributed to increasing membership numbers, but these services have been launched for quite some time. In the case of Coupang Play, as attractive content continues to be provided, members who have already joined are expected to keep watching steadily." Coupang discloses the number of Wow Membership subscribers for the previous year when announcing its fourth-quarter earnings. The fourth-quarter earnings are usually announced at the end of February or early March.
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