Tving, Wavve merge to create Korea's largest streaming platform

Tving [TVING]

Local streaming services Tving and Wavve signed a deal to merge their respective platforms, signaling the possible birth of the largest domestic service to compete with U.S. giant Netflix.

CJ ENM, the owner of Tving, and SK Square, the majority shareholder of Wavve, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Monday, the two companies said Tuesday. Tving is currently 48.85 percent owned by CJ ENM and Wavve is 40.5 percent owned by SK Square.

Details of the merger, such as the shareholder stake or the date, have not been decided yet, according to the companies.

The deal signals the birth of a service that could perhaps become the largest made-in-Korea streaming platform. Tving is currently the second largest domestic streaming service with 5.1 million monthly active users (MAU), while Wavve sits at No. 4 with 4.23 million MAU.

Should users from both services converge, the resulting service could outnumber the number of monthly users of Netflix in Korea. Netflix is the largest streaming service in the world and has 11.37 million users in Korea.

The move is also the second merger between domestic streaming services to increase their competitive edge against global giants such as Netflix and Disney+. Tving merged with KT's streaming service Seezn in December last year, bringing together three services in the upcoming deal.

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]