Coupang’s sports broadcasting attracts young customers, boosts paid memberships

The scene of the K-League game being broadcast live on Coupang Play. [Courtesy of Coupang]

Coupang Inc. is successfully building a loyal customer base and experiencing growth in paid memberships with its sports broadcasting strategies.

On the back of this success from its Coupang Play Series, which hosts matches between prestigious sports clubs in Seoul, the company is expanding the strategy by securing exclusive live broadcasts of domestic professional soccer league matches and Formula One World Championship races.

According to retail industry sources on Monday, the Coupang Play Series match between Manchester City and Atletico Madrid, held in Seoul on Sunday, received enthusiastic responses, bringing in 64,185 spectators despite sudden rain. Earlier on Friday, when ticket sales for the match began, the server experienced overwhelming traffic.

Last year, Coupang Play, Coupang’s over-the-top (OTT) platform, attracted approximately three million unique viewers for two Tottenham Hotspur Football Club matches, featuring Korean soccer star Son Heung-min. A unique viewer refers to one user, regardless of the number of views they have of the same video.

This year, Coupang succeeded in drawing soccer fans’ attention again by inviting Manchester City, which had a treble in 2023, to play in Korea. In addition, during the match against Atletico Madrid, all first-team players participated in an intense battle during the first 60 minutes. This allowed soccer fans in their 20s and 30s to see European soccer stars up close, creating a positive link to the retail giant.

According to monthly active users (MAUs) data of domestic OTT platforms by Nielsen Media Korea’s KoreanClick, Coupang Play initially lagged behind other domestic OTTs, Tving Co., and Wavve Corp., but is now second after Tving. Coupang’s MAU increased more than six-fold to 5.06 million in June this year from 810,000 in January 2021. According to a report from the local mobile market tracker Mobile Index Insight, 39.2 percent of new Coupang Play users in January this year were in their 20s.

Coupang’s sports broadcasting strategy aims to enhance its paid membership by leveraging content that becomes more enjoyable when watched live. Analysts suggest that inviting Tottenham Hotspur FC to Seoul in June last year was the most effective strategy in gaining two million paid subscribers.

In terms of investment, sports broadcasting also brings good returns compared to other content. While the production of Coupang Play’s original series “One Ordinary Day” cost more than 10 billion won ($780 million) to invest, the broadcasting rights for the domestic soccer league cost 11.2 billion won. With a similar investment, sports broadcasting can “lock-in” customers all year round. Coupang is estimated to have spent a similar amount or slightly higher this year for the K-League broadcasting.

The enthusiasm of the young generation in their 20s and 30s for major sports events can be the key to transforming them into commerce customers.

By age group, the largest segment of Coupang customers is between 25 and 34 years, accounting for 35.07 percent, followed by the group aged between 18 and 24 years with 20.49 percent. Coupang ranked first in a survey conducted by Open Survey, with 37.7 percent of frequent online shoppers aged 20 to 59 choosing Coupang, surpassing Naver Corp.’s Naver Shopping with 27.2 percent.

“Customers who join Coupang’s paid membership to watch sports broadcasting are likely to feel compelled to make purchases, even if just once. Providing high-quality shopping experiences for that first purchase could lead to building loyal customers,” said one industry insider. “The shopping and viewing data of these loyal customers in their 20s and 30s are considered the most valuable information for marketing purposes. Depending on their preferred genres, such as sports or dramas, personalized product suggestions can be offered to individual customers.”