Domestic OTT Gaining Popularity Due to COVID-19... KT Season Viewership Up 18%

'Season' Average Daily Viewers from February 10 to 5 Days Later
13% Increase Compared to January's Daily Average... Viewing Counts Up 18%
OTT Popularization Accelerates Due to COVID-19 Benefits
Global Companies Lead, Domestic OTTs Also Gain Popularity

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] KT's domestic online video service (OTT) Seezn has seen its average daily view count increase by 18% since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Domestic OTT services such as Seezn (KT) and Wavve (SK Telecom), which offer bundled discounts with IPTV, appear to be riding the wave of 'OTT popularization' alongside Netflix and Disney Plus.

According to KT on the 11th, from February 10, when the COVID-19 outbreak began in earnest, to April 5, Seezn's average daily viewers increased by 13% compared to the January daily average. The number of views rose by 18%, and viewing time also increased by 17%. Foreign OTTs, which have an absolute abundance of content, are seeing paid subscribers grow even more sharply. According to foreign media such as Forbes USA, from March 14 to 16, Disney's OTT platform 'Disney Plus' saw its North American subscribers triple compared to the previous week. During the same period, Netflix's subscribers also increased by 47%.

Domestic OTT 'Wavve' showed a 16.4% increase in real-time viewing time and a 19.2% increase in movie purchases when comparing the one and a half months before and after January 20, when the first COVID-19 case was confirmed in Korea.

Experts diagnose that the COVID-19 impact is changing the supply and demand and consumption patterns in the content market. In fact, the film 'Time to Hunt,' which decided to release via OTT instead of theatrical release due to COVID-19, is being distributed directly to home theaters through Netflix. Although independent and low-budget content has previously been released on OTT platforms, this is the first time a Chungmuro-funded film with a budget of around 10 billion KRW has done so.

An OTT company official said, "While global companies like Netflix are benefiting greatly from COVID-19, as the market gradually grows, the number of subscribers flowing into domestic OTTs is also expected to increase. Some subscribers use multiple OTTs grouped by the content they want to watch. We will strive to provide a wide range of diverse content."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.