Tving Plays Catchup in Korea’s Still-Growing Video Streaming Market

Tving Plays Catchup in Korea’s Still-Growing Video Streaming Market – Report

As a film enthusiast with a soft spot for Korean dramas and a knack for keeping tabs on the global streaming market, I must say that the growth of Tving in South Korea has been nothing short of impressive. Having spent countless hours binging K-dramas on various platforms, it’s fascinating to see how Tving has managed to carve out its niche by leveraging popular content from tvN and JTBC.

In the strong first half of the year for South Korean streaming services, Tving – a platform co-owned by CJ ENM, Naver, and JTBC – registered the most significant growth.

According to a recent study conducted by AMPD and Media Partners Asia, the Korean market for subscription video-on-demand services witnessed an increase of approximately 705,000 subscribers. This brought the total number of subscribers to 20.8 million as of June’s end. The sector’s revenue also saw a 11% rise year-over-year, amounting to $922 million. Furthermore, viewers spent 5% more time streaming content, accumulating a total of 103 billion minutes.

In South Korea, Netflix currently dominates the Video On Demand (VOD) market, holding 43% of the revenue and 37% of the viewership. However, it’s important to note that Tving experienced the most significant growth during the first half of the year.

Tving garnered approximately one-third of all newly acquired subscriptions, bringing its total to 4.2 million at the close of June. It also accounted for a 30% increase (previously 24%) in premium VOD viewership and generated 15% of the premium VOD revenue. According to the report, Tving’s success is rooted in its popular content from tvN and JTBC networks, as well as original productions. The launch of a new advertising tier significantly contributed to user growth during this period, with over 11.5 million monthly active users recorded.

In the broader Korean video streaming sector encompassing premium VOD, AVOD, SVOD, and live streaming on mobile devices, the market clocked a cumulative watch time of approximately 534 billion minutes within the first half of 2024 – a 24% increase compared to the same period the previous year. YouTube remains the dominant force in the Video On Demand (VOD) category and has further expanded its lead, accounting for about 80% of the total VOD viewership.

“In the first half, local content captured 77% of premium VOD category engagement and 75% of new customer acquisitions. Key dramas and variety shows from Tving, Netflix, Coupang Play, and Disney+ were significant contributors to this trend. With a multitude of Korean drama and variety releases across major streaming platforms, viewership has been boosted significantly. Approximately 200 titles account for 80% of the demand for Korean content. Tving dominated the top 15 scripted and unscripted titles, holding 10 out of the 15 most popular titles (with 7 being shared with other platforms). Other notable platforms include Netflix, which also boasted 7 of the top 15 titles,” as stated by Dhivya T, the lead analyst and head of insights at AMPD.

In the first half of 2024, Coupang Play’s sports and original content made significant strides, with six out of the top fifteen titles being produced by CJ ENM.

As for the high-tier VOD market share in Korea during the first half of the year, Netflix held a significant 37%, followed closely by Tving with 30%. Wavve claimed 18%, while Coupang Play and Disney+ both had around 9% and 5% respectively. U+ Mobile and Watcha each accounted for approximately 1% of the market share as well.

2024-08-14 10:16

Tving Plays Catchup in Korea’s Still-Growing Video Streaming Market – Report

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