Local OTT giant Wavve sees drop in active users, Netflix soars: report

SEOUL, June 17 (Yonhap) -- The number of monthly active users of local video streaming service giant Wavve declined over the past months, while that of Netflix soared to cement its top status, a report showed Thursday.

Wavve, which was launched last September by South Korea's top mobile carrier SK Telecom Co. and terrestrial broadcasters KBS, MBC and SBS, had 3.46 million monthly active users last month, down 8.8 percent from 3.79 million in October 2019, according to market researcher Nielsen KoreanClick.

Monthly active users refer to unique customers who interacted with a service of a company at least once a month.

The number of monthly active users of Wavve declined four straight months between December and March before rebounding slightly in April, the data showed.

In contrast, Netflix's monthly active users increased sharply.

The number of monthly active users of Netflix reached 6.37 million as of May, more than double the 2.52 million a year ago, according to the data.

Netflix's monthly active subscribers were 3.42 million in October, about 570,000 lower than that of Wavve. However the U.S.-based streaming giant saw its monthly active users surpassing Wavve in December and went on to become the most popular over-the-top (OTT) platform in South Korea.

Although Wavve saw a decline in active users, other local OTT service providers managed to expand their popularity.

Tving, an OTT platform created by entertainment titan CJ E&M Corp. and broadcaster JTBC, saw its monthly active users increasing to 2.54 million in May, more than double from 1.24 million a year ago.

The number of monthly active users of Seezn, an OTT platform launched by the country's major telecom firm KT Corp. in November, increased from 2.15 million in January to 2.36 million in May, according to the data.

South Korea's OTT market has been growing sharply, with the novel coronavirus pandemic prompting more consumers to use such services.

According to the Korea Communications Service, South Korea's entire OTT market was valued at 634.5 billion won (US$522 million) in 2019, compared with 306.9 billion won in 2016.

kdon@yna.co.kr
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