Coupang Play, the first South Korean over-the-top media service company to top 8 million monthly active users (MAU) on streaming platforms, continues to strengthen its market position with its exclusive sports broadcasts. In its latest achievement, the company announced on Tuesday that it will live-stream the 58th Super Bowl on February 12th, 2024. The Super Bowl is the season’s culmination that determines the National Football League (NFL) champion in the United States and is a globally renowned sports event, consistently ranking as the most-watched single-game event each year.

Coupang Play, a latecomer to the local OTT industry after its debut in December 2020, has aggressively focused on sports broadcasts to attract users and increase its market share. Coupang Play has been hosting events under the name ‘Coupang Play Series’ since July 2022, inviting internationally acclaimed football clubs to Korea.

In 2022, Coupang Play exclusively broadcasted matches featuring Son Heung-min’s team, Tottenham Hotspur, and Sevilla FC, as well as matches between Tottenham and K-League teams. The platform not only covers football matches, including the Korean K-League, Spain’s La Liga, France’s Ligue 1, and Germany’s Bundesliga, but also broadcasts various sports such as the Davis Cup and F1.

The recent increase in Coupang Play’s subscribers was attributed to the live broadcasts of the 2023 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Qatar Asian Cup as well as ticket sales for the MLB World Tour Seoul Series 2024.

According to data from mobile app analytics service Wiseapp Retail Goods, Coupang Play’s MAU hit 8.05 million in January 2024.

OTT companies in Korea and overseas are actively pursuing sports content acquisition, anticipating the ‘lock-in effect’ to retain users, and Netflix secured exclusive broadcasting rights for World Wrestling Entertainment’s ‘RAW’ in January.

By Kim Dae-gi and Minu Kim

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