Coupang Play surpasses 6 million subscribers

Poster for ″Coupang Play Series 2023″ [COUPANG PLAY]

Coupang Play reported the highest on-year growth of monthly users in August, becoming the first homegrown streaming service to surpass the 6-million threshold for monthly users during the period.

Operated by New York-listed Coupang, the over-the-top streaming service was a relative latecomer in the industry, but attained robust growth owing to its strategy of integrating users from the e-commerce platform Coupang.

Coupang Play has seen a sudden surge in the number of platform users, having added 2.32 million subscribers compared to the year before, according to data research company WiseApp and Wise Retail on Tuesday. The upswing was followed by Disney+ with an increase of 1.03 million users on year, Tving with 960,000, Netflix with 350,000 and Wavve with 40,000. Watcha, on the other hand, saw a decrease of 230,000 users compared to August 2022.

The numbers are compiled from Apple iOS and Android smartphone viewers.

Coupang Play, unlike other streaming services, is not a standalone subscription-based service but one that is available through Coupang's WOW membership program. The membership is a subscription-based program that offers benefits such as free and expedited shipping on the e-commerce platform; discounts in its food delivery app Coupang Eats; and exclusive promotions and content from Coupang Play. The monthly fee is 4,990 won.

Coupang’s business strategy of locking in more consumers to its platforms seems to be working. Coupang app users totaled 29.44 million, according to WiseApp and Wise Retail, which means three out of five people in Korea are using the platform.

Coupang Play has been working to offer exclusive content to members to attract more people to the streaming platform, including sports livestreaming and original content.

Since last year, the platform has been investing aggressively in sports content to offer exclusive livestreaming of the Team K League, the Formula 1 World Championship and the National Football League. Under the Coupang Play Series, the platform invited three football teams - Atletico Madrid, Paris Saint and Manchester City - this year and livestreamed the games. The 2023 edition was seen to have played a big role in growing the platform’s monthly active users.

Coupang Play’s original variety show “SNL Korea,” currently in its fourth season, scored a high number of streams as the show brought on hard-to-get celebrities who usually don’t appear in entertainment shows, such as Jung Woo-sung, Lee Da-hee and Go Soo.

To lock in more users to the platform, Coupang Play launched a reward system dubbed “Cou-ple Club” from June, that gives viewers mileage based on how much time they spend on the platform. WOW members are automatically subscribed to the club. Based on the accumulated points, users are given the chance to apply for free tickets to sports games and “SNL Korea” as audience members.

The e-commerce platform also recently established an entertainment agency, CP Entertainment, to strengthen its competitiveness in content. Comedian Shin Dong-hyup is reportedly signed with the agency earlier this month.

“Coupang Play shares the same vision with the WOW membership — to make the subscribers feel that they are receiving privileges and benefits through the program,” a Coupang Play spokesperson said. “Coupang Play hopes to become a critical part of that benefit.”

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]