[Click eStock] "AfreecaTV, Potential Benefit from Twitch Simultaneous Streaming Guideline Revision"

Korea Investment & Securities maintained a buy rating and a target price of 120,000 KRW for AfreecaTV on the 8th, noting that platform sales, which had stagnated last year, have been confirmed to recover from the first quarter of this year. They also anticipated potential benefits from the revision of Twitch's simultaneous streaming guidelines.

Twitch revealed a revision to its simultaneous streaming guidelines, one of the service terms, on its official website the day before, raising expectations that AfreecaTV could benefit. According to the revision, simultaneous broadcasting on other platforms such as YouTube while live streaming on Twitch is prohibited.

This change in terms applies not only domestically but to users worldwide. Since streamers generally secure viewers by streaming simultaneously on two or more platforms, this revision is expected to cause significant concerns for streamers active on Twitch. In particular, in South Korea, where Twitch's live streaming quality is already limited, this issue adds to the possibility of a shift in the industry landscape.

Jung Ho-yoon, a researcher at Korea Investment & Securities, stated, "Over the past two to three years, YouTube has rapidly emerged and established itself as a personal broadcasting platform, making it somewhat difficult to claim AfreecaTV as the sole alternative to Twitch." However, he explained, "Considering revenue from Star Balloons, AfreecaTV's diverse BJ support system, and the system allowing simultaneous streaming on other platforms (excluding partner BJs), if Twitch streamers start to leave due to this issue, AfreecaTV is likely to benefit."

He added, "Advertising revenue, which was sluggish in the first quarter, is expected to recover as more new game releases from various game companies increase in the second half of the year," and concluded, "I believe it is necessary to buy before the second half."

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