[Click eStock] "SOOP Secures Growth Potential Through Virtual Surge and Southeast Asia Expansion"

On the 16th, LS Securities evaluated the online video service (OTT) platform company SOOP, stating that "the rapid increase of virtual streamers and expansion into the Southeast Asian market will be growth drivers."

On the same day, Woosung Jung, a researcher at LS Securities, said, "About 10% of SOOP's best streamers as of last year are virtual streamers, and the number of virtual streamers is rapidly increasing."

The number of virtual best streamers surged from 1 in 2021 to 400 last year. While the growth in the number of best streamers in the game, talk, and cam broadcast genres has slowed, the virtual genre has compensated for this and is driving platform growth.

SOOP's expansion into the Southeast Asian market is also a noteworthy factor. Researcher Jung said, "Thailand was selected as the content production base because local partnerships can be utilized," adding, "The reason for choosing the Southeast Asian region is that the large population allows for capturing a market of a certain scale, and the interest in e-sports among people in their 20s and 30s is high."

SOOP's revenue expanded from 260.5 billion KRW in 2021 to 413.2 billion KRW last year. Operating profit increased from 88.8 billion KRW to 113.5 billion KRW during the same period. Researcher Jung stated, "Due to Twitch, a domestic competitor of the company, withdrawing from Korea (December 2023), SOOP experienced an increase in annual revenue for 2023-2024."

Furthermore, Researcher Jung added, "The company is making efforts such as planning various events and expanding overseas to secure content," and said, "If a similar ecosystem to the domestic platform is formed on overseas platforms, the ratio of paid fees to donation economy gift revenue could be used as an evaluation index for the progress of overseas business."