'KBO Effect' TVING Sees Surge in Users in Q1...Chasing No.1 Netflix

Tving has significantly narrowed the gap with Netflix, the No. 1 domestic online video service (OTT) in South Korea, as its user base surged in the first quarter of this year due to the broadcasting of the Asian Cup and professional baseball games.

According to Mobile Index, an application (app) analytics service, from January 1 to the 26th of this year, the average daily active users (DAU) of OTT apps on Android and iOS showed Netflix leading with 2.835 million users. Netflix had an average DAU of 3.138 million last year but saw a slight decline in the first quarter of this year.

Tving ranked second with an average DAU of 1.627 million in the first quarter, marking a significant increase of about 22.5% compared to last year's average of 1.328 million.

Wave had an average daily user count of 1.097 million in the first quarter, slightly down from last year's average of 1.127 million. Coupang Play surged by 43% to 973,000 users in the first quarter, up from last year's average of 680,000, closing in behind third-ranked Wave.

The increase in users for Tving and Coupang Play is attributed to the effect of broadcasting consecutive domestic and international sports events in the first quarter.

Tving's DAU rose to 2.02 million on the 6th of last month when it live-streamed the Asian Cup semifinals. During the KBO League's preseason games from the 9th to the 19th of this month, the average DAU was 1.704 million, and on the opening day, the 23rd, it reached 1.989 million, coinciding with the professional baseball broadcasts.

Notably, Tving saw a 70% surge in new app installations during the 11 days of the preseason games, with 265,000 new installs compared to 156,000 in the previous 11 days. During the same period, Netflix recorded 98,000 new app installations.

Coupang Play's user concentration occurred between the 20th and 21st, when it broadcast the MLB Seoul Series between the San Diego Padres and the LA Dodgers. It recorded 1.42 million DAU on the 20th and 1.94 million on the 21st, more than double last year's daily average of 680,000 users.

New app installations for Coupang Play also exceeded 160,000 over two days, with 89,000 on the 20th and 73,000 on the 21st, coinciding with the MLB Seoul Series.