Naver's streaming platform Chzzk is raising its profile by live-streaming all matches of the FIFA Concacaf World Cup. The platform has surpassed SOOP for the first time in weekly smartphone usage time about two years after its launch. Analysts say Chzzk's strategy of scaling up through major broadcasting rights has entered a phase of full-fledged results.
According to data analytics solution Mobile Index on Monday, smartphone users spent a total of 9,409,255 hours on Chzzk during the second week of June (June 8-14). This figure surpassed the usage time of rival SOOP (9,020,641 hours). This is the first time Chzzk has exceeded SOOP's usage time on a weekly basis since its official launch in May 2024.
The second week of June included June 12, when South Korea's national football team played its first group-stage match against the Czech Republic, reflecting the World Cup effect. The peak number of simultaneous viewers for the first match reached 4,825,000, a record high for Chzzk. While app usage time for the third week of June has not yet been tallied, the trend is expected to continue, given that peak simultaneous viewers for the second group-stage match against Mexico reached 4.78 million.
The industry analyzes that Chzzk's strategy of expanding by successively securing broadcasting rights for major sports and e-sports events is paying off. Chzzk rapidly expanded its user base immediately after launch, benefiting from Twitch's withdrawal from Korea and from broadcasting major League of Legends (LoL) tournaments. Even so, its usage time, which represents "quality of use," had consistently lagged behind SOOP. The effect of broadcasting major events has now enabled it to reverse the gap. Naver has successively secured broadcasting rights, starting with exclusive Korean-language rights for the E-sports World Cup (EWC) last year, followed by the 2026-2032 Summer and Winter Olympics and the 2026 and 2030 FIFA World Cups.
Naver believes that various official broadcasting rights also help in securing streamers. In July 2024, Chzzk became the first domestic streaming platform to introduce a "Watch Together" feature, which is also being applied to this World Cup. Watch Together is a service that allows streamers to display specific content directly on their broadcasts and watch it together with viewers. "On other platforms, streamers have to do so-called 'verbal commentary' without the World Cup broadcast screen, but on Chzzk, the differentiator is that streamers can display the official broadcast on their channel and communicate with viewers," a Naver official said. In fact, more than 900 Chzzk streamers have broadcast this World Cup through the Watch Together feature so far.
The key question is how to retain users even after major events end. Naver first plans to focus on nurturing and supporting streamers, which can be considered the competitive edge of a streaming platform. After launching "Streamer Shop," which allows streamers to link their Chzzk channels with their Naver Smart Stores, in February this year, the company plans to unveil a new monetization program within the year. It will also strengthen connections between Chzzk and other Naver services, including the paid membership service "Naver Plus Membership."
Naver is also diversifying its game and e-sports content beyond LoL. A notable example is enabling users to play Nexon's "FC Online" mini soccer game within Chzzk during this World Cup period. This month, Naver signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Krafton to pursue broadcasting of "PUBG: Battlegrounds" e-sports tournaments and a league partnership. At the same time, it plans to collaborate so that streamers can create content tailored to each fandom using the Battlegrounds intellectual property (IP).
