Increasing Usage Among MZ Generation Through Real-Time Light Communication
Sports events such as the Paris Olympics and the KBO League opening have drawn users to Naver Open Talk. It is analyzed that group chats, which allow real-time communication on topics of interest, have emerged as a popular platform.
According to Naver on the 13th, as of the 8th, the cumulative number of visitors to the Naver Open Talk Paris Olympics official cheering room reached 5.64 million. The room for the drama "Queen of Tears," which ended in May, had over 1.18 million cumulative visitors.
Users with shared interests gather in real-time communication channels to quickly obtain real-time information and trendy updates that cannot be found through search. It is also easy to feel a sense of belonging while forming empathy with many people.
Naver’s Open Talk, linked with various Naver services, boasts strengths in this regard. When users search for sports events like "Paris Olympics" or team names such as "KIA Tigers" in Naver integrated search, they can easily find each Open Talk. While reading the latest news related to their cheering team on the sports page, users can click the speech bubble at the top of the page to join Open Talk. In fact, the proportion of traffic entering Open Talk through the sports page and search accounts for more than 70% of total inflow.
Open Talk is especially active in the sports field, where quick sharing of game news and on-site reactions is important. As of August this year, the cumulative number of users of sports-themed Open Talks reached approximately 10 million.
Open Talks by professional baseball teams are representative. As of the 8th, the cumulative number of participants in official Open Talks by professional baseball teams reached about 3 million. These Open Talks support functions that directly link to team news, team videos, and rankings. Official participants, called Game Informers, share information such as game schedule notifications, game sketches, and player performance summaries to facilitate rapid communication among users. Additionally, real-time updates on rain cancellations, heatwave cancellations, starting pitcher lineups, and player acquisitions are shared.
Another feature is the genuine communication among users. In sports Open Talks, only fans who have subscribed to MY Team for more than 24 hours can participate in conversations, allowing fans to engage in meaningful discussions.
In official Open Talks created by official channels, not only general users but also official participants can join, enabling communication with influencers. Official participants include influencers relevant to the Open Talk topics, such as "Fubao Grandpa" Kang Cheol-won, a zookeeper, and Park Bo-young, the lead actress of the Netflix series "Morning Comes to the Psychiatric Ward," who freely interact with general users in Open Talk.
In the official cheering room for the Paris Olympics, official participants included archery commentator Jang Hye-jin, taekwondo national team member Kim Yu-jin, and judo athlete Park Da-sol. Kim Yu-jin shared videos from the athletes’ dining hall, Jang Hye-jin introduced the International Communications Center where Olympic broadcasts are made, and Park Da-sol delivered on-site news from the badminton national team player An Se-young’s competition venue. In the Open Talks for each Olympic event, a new game Open Talk bot was applied to provide game information.
As channels where influencers and "true fans" meet and communicate gain attention, entertainment field "Talk Meetings" are also drawing interest. Talk Meetings are events where actors from works participate in Open Talk and share opinions with users in real time. Especially, the tvN drama "Run On," aired in the first half of this year, received a warm response. In the "Run On" Open Talk, which had over 620,000 cumulative visitors, actors Byun Woo-seok and Kim Hye-yoon shared behind-the-scenes stories and favorite OSTs. As a result, it gained popularity among the younger generation, and as of June, the number of Open Talk users under 30 increased by 75.6% compared to June last year.
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