Tving closing gap on Netflix in growing Korean streaming market

South Korea’s SVOD market added more than 700,000 subscribers in the first half of 2024 led by robust gains by local streaming platform Tving.

It means that the SVOD market in South Korea has now hit 20.8 million, while premium VOD revenues, including subscription and advertising, grew 11% year-on-year to $922m, according to a report from research and consultancy firms AMPD and Media Partners Asia. Viewership also grew 5% year-on-year to 103 billion minutes.

Tving, a streaming platform owned by leading South Korean entertainment company CJ ENM, led subscriber growth in the first six months of the year, contributing 34% share of SVOD additions to reach 4.2 million total subscribers.

Tving’s growth is anchored to popular tvN and JTBC network dramas, variety and originals. The introduction of a new advertising tier has helped drive user growth with monthly active users now more than 11.5 million.

Streaming giant Netflix remains the premium VOD leader with 43% share of revenue and 37% of viewership. But Tving is gaining pace, growing its share of viewership to 30%, capturing 15% of premium VOD revenues.

Beyond premium VOD, viewership across AVOD, SVOD and live streaming platforms on mobile devices totalled 534 billion minutes in the first half of 2024, up 24% year-on-year. YouTube is the overall VOD category leader and continues to gain share, reaching 80% of total VOD viewership from January to June.

Dhivya T, lead analyst and head of insights at ampd, said: “Local content captured 77% of premium VOD category engagement and 75% of customer acquisition in 1H 2024, with key drama and variety hits from Tving , Netflix , Coupang Play and Disney+.

“An abundance of local drama and variety releases across major VOD platforms drive viewership, with over 200 titles contributing to 80% of Korean content demand in 1H 2024.

“Tving led hits across scripted and unscripted titles, carrying 10 of the top 15 titles (seven shared across platforms) in 1H 2024. Other key platforms include Netflix with seven of the top 15 titles. Disney+ originals Coupang Play’s sports and originals also broke through. CJ ENM produced six of the top 15 titles in 1H 2024.”

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