Platforms fight to woo livestreamers as Twitch exits Korea

Logo for Naver's new livestreaming platform ″Chzzk″ [NAVER]

Domestic streaming platforms are lining up benefits to attract more users as Twitch prepares to pull out of Korea.

AfreecaTV, the second most-dominant streaming platform in Korea after Amazon's Twitch, announced a new set of regulations on Friday that would make it easier for Twitch streamers to transition to its service. It has also rolled out an integration that will allow streamers and users to log in with their Twitch accounts.

Conditions to earn AfreecaTV's “Best BJ” badge, which gives streamers who receive it a variety of benefits related to its virtual monetary system, have been eased. A creator generally must stream for more than 500 hours in order to earn the title, but AfreecaTV will now count up to 400 hours of Twitch streaming toward that total.

The platform is also offering free one-month subscriptions to 100,000- Twitch-turned-AfreecaTV users, who can claim them on a first come, first served basis.

Twitch took up 52 percent of Korea's streaming market share in November, while AfreecaTV took 45 percent, according to market tracker Mobile Index.

Elsewhere, AfreecaTV is undergoing a major rebrand, and will change its platform name to “SOOP” next year.

“I believe that AfreecaTV is changing its platform name in an attempt for a fresh new start and to get rid of negative connotations surrounding the name,” an anonymous industry insider told the Korea JoongAng Daily.

SOOP means forest in Korean. The name implies that each streamer represents at tree and that the platform encompasses each of their broadcasts.

The names of the platform's currency, currently dubbed “star balloons,” and its streamers, currently referred to as “broadcast jockeys” or “BJ,” are also expected to change.

Naver is Korea's largest portal site, but a newcomer to the livestream industry; its new service, dubbed “Chzzk,” will open in open beta on Tuesday.

Chzzk is currently accepting applications from streamers who have more than 10,000 subscribers on other platforms, including Twitch, in a bid to secure popular creators.

Naver quietly launched the service in closed beta on Dec. 5 and formed a Chzzk-linked online community on its social platform Naver Game Lounge the following day, after Twitch announced its departure from Korea. The company announced that it was receiving applicants for the open beta via a public community notice on Dec. 7.

Chzzk will also sponsor and stream a seasonal League of Legends tournament in collaboration with Twitch. The event, which was initially hosted by Twitch alone, is the streaming community's largest biannual esports event. It will be Twitch's last project before it leaves Korea in February.

Naver expects to launch Chzzk publicly by the first half of next year, once it determines that the service is stable.

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