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Netflix is number one in the industry.
Content successes like pyramid game and transit love
The British BBC also received positive reviews of “New Squid Game”.
A “blocking strategy” to ensure loyal customers
MAU increased 132% within 3 years of independent launch
502 minutes. This is the average time per person watching local online video service (OTT) Tving last month. This is 80 minutes more than the average Netflix viewing time per person (422 minutes) during the same period. This is the first time that TVING has surpassed the average viewing time of “absolute powerhouse” Netflix. Even in the OTT industry, there is talk that Tving's latest moves are unusual.
○ Competition against mainstay Netflix
At 23, TVING ranked first among domestic OTTs in average viewing time per person last month, ahead of Netflix, according to Mobile Index, a major data analytics platform. This is a 7% increase compared to February last year (469 minutes). In the same period, Netflix decreased by 14.1%, from 491 minutes to 422 minutes.
Until now, Tving's key metrics have never surpassed Netflix. The atmosphere has changed since this year. Tving's MAU reached an all-time high of 6.61 million last month. Having registered 6.56 million people in January, which is 12.6 percent more than the previous month, that number increased by 0.8 percent.
Netflix's MAU is down from 13.06 million last December. This year, there were 12.82 million people in January and 12.52 million people in February, 1.8 and 2.3% less than the previous month, respectively. During the same period, DAU also decreased from 3.16 million to 3.07 million to 2.82 million. Compared to the previous month, DAU decreased by 2.8% in January, and by 8.1% in February of this year.
Internally, Teabing also rates this change as exceeding expectations. Since its independent launch in October 2020, TVING has grown its presence by an average of more than 33% every year for three years. Tving's MAU grew 132% last month compared to March 2021 at the start of its standalone launch.
○Original content success… Secure loyal customers
Teabing's beginnings were not glamorous. TVING was officially launched as CJ Hello Vision's Internet cable TV service in June 2010. It was a web-based offering of real-time streaming channels and video-on-demand (VOD). The concept of “TV Everywhere”, popular in the United States at the time, was imported to Korea. Since then, it has been established as a platform to watch CJ ENM related TV content such as tvN and Mnet online.
It became a proper OTT in October 2020 when it was launched as an independent corporation through a physical spin-off of the TVING division within CJ ENM. Major shareholders are: CJ ENM (48.85%), KT Studio Genie, Media Growth Capital No. 1, SLL JoongAng and Naver.
TVING official said. “We've recognized the importance of fandom since our inception as an independent corporation and have created a strategy to create fans of popular original content that is analyzed as a growth factor.” TVING has consistently produced “well-crafted” original content. It is credited with securing loyal customers by promoting “premium IP (intellectual property rights)” by releasing original content of artistic quality and popularity on a seasonal basis. Starting with the first original Girl's Chili Club, Drinker City Women, Yumi's Cells, and Transit Love are considered representative franchise IPs.
The original content “Pyramid Game” and “Lee Jae, I'm Dying Soon” presented by TVING this year also gained traction in the global market. “Pyramid Game” is a drama based on the popular Naver webtoon of the same name. It was recently the only K content invited to France's Series Mania. Britain's BBC analyzed the reason why the work is attracting worldwide attention, saying: “Pyramid” is a new “squid game” that shows the painful reality. “Lee Jae, I'm Dying Soon” ranked top 2 on Prime Video in the global TV show ratings, including the English and US regions.
Additionally, “transit love” is cited as a major player in dating reality syndrome. This year saw the release of the third series, “Transit Love 3”, which attracted a lot of attention. As of its 6th week of release, total viewing time is estimated to be 25% higher than last year's Transit Love 2.
In the future, we plan to engage sports enthusiasts as our core user base. On the 4th, Twing signed an agreement with the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) for the 2024-2026 cable and wireless broadcast rights of the KBO League. To watch KBO League games online, you must use TVING. An OTT industry official analyzed: “Interest in domestic OTT has increased significantly” and “There is a shift in the domestic OTT market which was focused on global OTT”.
Reporter Jeong Ji-eun jeong@hankyung.com