Streaming platform SOOP (formerly AfreecaTV) is accelerating a shift in its business direction toward music and global content. Instead of keeping noncore subsidiaries, it is concentrating its capabilities on targeting global markets and expanding content intellectual property (IP). As expansion through subsidiaries failed to produce clear results, the company is reorganizing around a content business that leverages its platform competitiveness.
According to the content industry on the 15th, SOOP has completed the liquidation of subsidiaries such as Primeta, a Metaverse development unit, and Afreeca Open Studio, which operated PC cafés, and is putting weight behind expanding a new IP business focused on music content and artist collaborations. The strategy is to develop new content that connects music streamers with external artists and expand monetization through performances, live events and sponsorships.
SOOP grew as Korea's leading one-person media and internet streaming platform based on user support and subscriptions, and platform advertising. As of last year, user support and subscriptions accounted for about 71% of total sales. It pursued various businesses to overcome revenue dependence but did not achieve significant results.
For example, it is proceeding with liquidation of Afreeca Studio, which operated PC cafés to expand its esports business and secure offline cultural spaces in 2018. Afreeca Studio posted a profit of about 4.3 million won in 2023 but recorded a loss of about 60 million won in 2024 and 56.72 million won last year.
As the Metaverse gained huge popularity during COVID-19, it established "Primeta" to push related businesses, but recorded a loss of 1.7 billion won in 2024 and 1.3 billion won last year. Primeta is also undergoing liquidation.
SOOP has organized subsidiaries that failed to generate revenue and had limited scalability, and focused on expanding music IP and targeting global markets. It is expected to expand its global content portfolio by analyzing streamer ecosystems and content demand by country, and to work with local creators to grow its overseas user base. The company was said to be strengthening platform competitiveness around esports and music content and concentrating on securing new revenue sources.
A person at Afreeca also noted, "We are targeting global markets with SOOP, our core business, and are planning new businesses that expand into advertising agency services and commerce."
Industry outlooks are mixed. Some say music and global content can work with SOOP's existing business areas, and that it is easier to build a revenue model because the existing streamer ecosystem and live streaming technology can be used without separate large-scale facility investments.
However, competition with major platforms in global markets is unavoidable, and the music business is also being pursued mainly through external partnerships, prompting caution over whether performance and profitability will be proven.
An industry official explained, "SOOP already has a streamer ecosystem and live infrastructure, so the expansion of music and global content is a more realistic revenue model than other new businesses in that it can leverage existing assets," while adding, "Both music IP and global operations are already highly competitive markets, so if SOOP fails to secure differentiated content and a user base, it may be difficult to establish them as the growth drivers it anticipated."