Lotte Home Shopping Launches Puzzle Game Using Belligom IP
Achieves 60,000 Downloads Shortly After Domestic Release
Operates Revenue Models Through In-App Advertising and Item Purchases
Expands Short-Form Content to Boost Live Commerce
The home shopping industry is expanding its business areas to attract consumers' attention. Beyond the traditional product sales methods centered on TV, companies are seeking ways to generate revenue by strengthening new content utilizing intellectual property (IP) and artificial intelligence (AI).
According to industry sources on the 5th, Lotte Home Shopping's newly launched mobile game in Korea, 'Belligom Matchland,' recorded approximately 60,000 new downloads over 16 days from the 16th to the 31st of last month. This far exceeds the cumulative 20,000 downloads achieved over six months in the global market since its pilot release last July in countries such as the UK and Canada.
Belligom Matchland is a mobile puzzle game that utilizes the IP of 'Belligom,' an original character developed through Lotte Home Shopping's in-house venture program in 2018. The story revolves around users rebuilding the closed amusement park 'Belliland' by playing the puzzle game. It applies a '3-match puzzle' system where a row disappears when three or more blocks of the same color are matched.
Amid domestic gamers' interest, Belligom Matchland ranked first in the Google Play puzzle category popularity ranking just three days after its launch on the 19th of last month, and also ranked second in the overall game popularity ranking. Lotte Home Shopping expects that activating the mobile game will help diversify its revenue models. The character IP business using Belligom has already shown results domestically and internationally. It has a fandom of 1.7 million through social networking services (SNS), and since 2023, it has actively expanded overseas to Taiwan and Japan, achieving cumulative sales of over 20 billion KRW through merchandise sales and brand collaborations.
A Lotte Home Shopping official stated, "We operate revenue models through in-app advertising and game item purchases within the Belligom Matchland application. Due to the nature of puzzle games, heavy users tend to generate higher revenue in the later stages, so we expect sales of game items to increase in the future."
Efforts are also ongoing to boost consumers' purchasing motivation by producing highly attention-grabbing products into short-form video content, similar to popular YouTube Shorts.
For example, Hyundai Home Shopping introduced the industry's first AI system last June that automatically creates short-form content by analyzing high-viewership segments of TV home shopping and mobile live commerce broadcasts. Through this, they produced over 800 related contents last year. The company explained that the viewing duration increased about twice compared to general short-form content by capturing key scenes favored by customers. Additionally, in August last year, they revamped the official online mall 'Hyundai H Mall' app, establishing a dedicated short-form section called 'Short Deal' and exposing up to 100 videos under one minute using the AI automatic production system.
Shinsegae Live Shopping also launched 'AI Shorts' in July last year. The AI analyzes existing broadcasts of 20 to 60 minutes and their scripts, then automatically creates short-form content within one minute. As of last month, daily product clicks and views increased more than fivefold compared to the launch, and average daily viewing time grew about tenfold.
An industry insider said, "The trend of pursuing efficiency in time and cost has rapidly settled in the shopping sector as well. Short-form content, which compresses and delivers only useful information, will play a more important role in revenue generation."
CJ OnStyle plans to focus on expanding the IP universe of video content this year to strengthen the competitiveness of mobile live commerce. The IP universe refers to the expansion where flagship TV programs spin off into mobile apps or external channels, or popular mobile programs reverse-expand to TV through fandoms.
Currently, CJ OnStyle holds about 40 video content IPs, the largest number in the industry. Last year, they conducted over 1,000 live broadcasts monthly across mobile and TV, with 6.5 million customers purchasing products through these broadcasts. A CJ OnStyle official said, "This year, we plan to increase mobile and TV video content IPs to 50 and nurture major IPs that will expand to external video platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram."
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