SOOP’s Q1 operating profit up 56%

[Courtesy of SOOP Co.]

South Korea’s SOOP Co., formerly AfreecaTV Co., posted 28.7 billion won ($20.79 million) in operating profit for the first quarter of 2024, up 56 percent from the same period a year ago, according to the preliminary data released by the company on Monday. The figure was 20 percent higher than the market forecast of 23.9 billion won compiled by Yonhap Infomax Co.

The company’s revenue totaled 95 billion won for the first quarter, up 30.7 percent from the same period a year ago, and its net profit stood at 24.8 billion won, up 49.6 percent during the same period. The platform accounted for 83 percent of the revenue, while advertising accounted for 16 percent.

SOOP reported a 21 percent quarter-over-quarter increase in the number of users sponsoring streamers, as the platform ecosystem became more active with an influx of new broadcasters and users after U.S. video live-streaming service Twitch announced at the end of 2023 that it was pulling out of the Korean market.

The number of average concurrent viewers was up 17 percent as of March 2024, and average monthly viewing time up 20 percent from December 2023. The number of subscribers who regularly sponsor streamers rose 45 percent, while the number of first-time streamers was also up 35 percent.

The company’s operating expenses stood at 663 billion won for the first quarter of 2024, with personnel expenses accounting for the largest proportion at 34 percent, followed by platform fees at 25 percent, payment fees at 20 percent, depreciation expenses at 8 percent, streamer support funds at 3 percent, and content production expenses at 2 percent.

SOOP plans to launch its global streaming platform ‘SOOP’ in May 2024 and rebrand its existing domestic AfreecaTV platform under the same name in the third quarter of the year. AfreecaTV changed its name to SOOP on March 29th, 2024, and listed its stock under the same name on April 23rd. Monday’s announcement marks the first performance report released by SOOP since its rebranding.

“The new pool of users and streamers and the existing users are coexisting harmoniously after Twitch withdrew from the Korean market,” SOOP Chief Executive Officer Jung Chan-yong said during the earnings call on Monday. “We are attaching as much importance to revitalizing the community as to increasing monthly active users (MAU).”

“Our strength lies in production (content creation) using e-sports and games, which we believe will be an important strategy for our global expansion moving forward,” he added.

Regarding AfreecaTV platform’s rebranding to SOOP, Jung said that the company is considering various aspects, including going for a form that is as different from the current AfreecaTV as much as possible.

“We will redesign our User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) to allow streamers to intuitively view various statistics and user activity metrics, as well as improve user convenience in using the service,“ he added.