The Gap Between Chijijik and SOOP Narrows to 28,000... Competition for Market Share Heats Up

Chijijik, Rapid Growth Due to eSports Broadcasting Impact
SOOP to Expand Content Support and Introduce AI

The gap in peak viewership between Naver's streaming platform Chijijik and SOOP has narrowed to around 28,000 viewers, indicating intensified competition among streaming platforms.

According to internet broadcasting ranking site SoftConViewership on the 30th, Chijijik's highest viewership from the 20th to the 27th was 334,363 viewers recorded on the 25th. Compared to SOOP's peak of 362,533 viewers on the 22nd during the same period, the difference stands at 28,170 viewers.

Launched in December last year as a 'game streaming platform,' Chijijik has caught up with SOOP in just one year. Notably, in August, SOOP's peak viewership exceeded 450,000 while Chijijik's was below 200,000, showing more than double the difference. This marks rapid growth within four months.

Chijijik's increased market share was largely driven by eSports broadcasts such as League of Legends (LoL). The broadcast of the League of Legends World Championship (Worlds) finals received great response, and major tournaments including the League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) were streamed. It is also reported that partner streamers will participate in league-format eSports tournaments in the future.

Chijijik plans to use this momentum as a stepping stone for a comeback. By diversifying revenue streams, popular streamers will be able to create content within the Chijijik ecosystem. Additionally, streamer channels will be linked with Smart Store, enabling streamers to more easily showcase merchandise to fans. Purchase links for Smart Store products will also be integrated within broadcasts. Subscription benefits will be improved to enhance subscriber verification effects.

Support for virtual streamers, where hosts or cast members appear as virtual avatars or characters during broadcasts, is also increasing. Short videos created on Chijijik are now exposed on the Naver application as well. Plans are underway to diversify genres beyond the game-specialized streaming platform. On the 26th at around 11 PM, the category with the highest viewership on Chijijik was identified as talk shows.

A Naver official stated, "Benefiting from eSports content, we plan to take a more proactive approach next year. There was a project to debut virtual streamers, which will be regularized, and such content will be expanded."

In response to Chijijik's strategy, SOOP is also striving to maintain its number one market share. Recently, it announced future strategies including expanded content support and the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. SOOP plans to double the budget for its content support center next year, establish a global content support center, expand opportunities for original content participation, and conduct large-scale campaigns.

AI solutions such as 'SAVVY,' which generates videos to provide users with seamless content, and 'SOOPI,' which learns users' content preferences to recommend optimized content, will be introduced. SAVVY is currently in pilot phase and will be available to all streamers and users by June next year.