TVing beefs up sports content, narrowing gap with Netflix

TVing, a South Korean over-the-top (OTT) platform, is beefing up its live sports programming and TV series featuring baseball players to catch up to Netflix, the indisputable No. 1 global streaming company.

Its focus on sports content seems to be working. In October, its monthly active users (MAU) shot up 44.2% on-year to 8.1 million, marking its largest-ever monthly tally, according to Mobile Index, a data provider.

By contrast, Netflix’s MAU in South Korea fell 7.1% to 11.9 million last month, narrowing its gap with TVing to 3.8 million from 7.0 million a year before.

Compared with Coupang Play, competing for the No. 2 spot in the domestic streaming market, TVing widened its gap to 1.0 million to cement its position.

Industry watchers contributed the sharp increase in TVing’ss active users to live broadcasts of professional baseball games.

In March, the unit of CJ Group secured exclusive broadcast rights for the Korea Baseball Association (KBO) League. Sports stars’ storytelling programs, such as Perfect League 2024, were also credited to TVing’s user base growth.

Since the 2024 KBO League season ended last month, TVing will focus on live basketball streams and release new TV sports shows this winter.

But TVing is not alone in its expansion into sports broadcasting. Netflix livestreamed the boxing match between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson on Nov. 15. It became the most-streamed sporting event ever, watched by 65 million households, according to Netflix.

Further, Netflix’s alliance with Naver, South Korea’s No. 1 internet portal, poses a threat to TVing. From Nov. 26, Naver’s paid members will be allowed access to Netflix.

Among smartphone OTT apps, TVing ranked third with 7.25 million users in October, trailing Netflix with 11.8 million and Coupang Play with 7.6 million, according to industry tracker Wiseapp Retail Goods.

Write to Ji-Eun Jeong at jeong@hankyung.com
 


Yeonhee Kim edited this article.