On December 2023, a live-streaming platform Twitch announced its decision to cease its business operations in South Korea by Feb 2024.

According to Twitch’s CEO, one of the primary reasons behind this decision was the huge burden of network fees in South Korea, which were reportedly 10 times more expensive than in other countries.

Network fees refer to the cost that the Content Provider pays for generating increased traffic, separate from the access fees paid by the Internet Service Provider.

In 2022 Twitch adjusted its maximum video quality to lower quality (720p) in an attempt to alleviate the burden of network fees.

However, the exact amount of network fees paid by Twitch remains undisclosed due to an NDA between carriers and Twitch.

According to a report submitted by Twitch to the Korea Communications Commission in 2022, its revenue amounted to 2.1 billion won.

Twitch,a global live-streaming platform under Amazon in the United States, established a server in South Korea in 2015.

It has since become the No.1 live platform in Korea, and has been used by streamers with useful functions specialized in streaming.

As Twitch announced its exit, many streamers on the platform started to move to alternative platforms such as Afreeca TV and CHZZK.

Afreeca TV is a Korean live-streaming platform that was launched in 2006.

Famous clubs such as T1 and many streamers started utilizing this platform even before the announcement of the shutdown of Twitch, and it is the most famous Korean live-streaming platform.

The representative of Afreeca TV, Kevin Soo, announced that in the second quarter of this year, Afreeca TV would launch a global platform and rename it as “SOOP” meaning Forest.

He also stated that he would change the name ‘BJ’ to ‘streamer’, which is the name for streamers on Afreeca TV.

Naver's newly announced live-streaming platform CHZZK opened a beta service on December 2023 and is scheduled to be officially released in the first half of this year.

CHZZK can use 'cheese' to donate to streamers and one cheese has a similar value to 1 won.

CHZZK’s UI is similar to Twitch, which makes it easier for streamers and viewers who used Twitch to be familiar with the new platform.

YouTube also has live-streaming but it is not regarded as a platform friendly for live-streaming.

Among famous streamers who used to air on Twitch, only a few streamers moved to the platform YouTube.

Many say that YouTube's live-streaming function is inferior to its competitors like Afreeca TV or Twitch.

YouTube is not only a platform that offers live streaming services, so it is difficult to attract new viewers by recommending new channels and live streaming and it is difficult to manage the chat.

For example, if vicious viewers are banned by their steamer on YouTube, they can easily create a new channel and come back while other platforms need verification.

As the chat determines the vibe of the stream, YouTube’s unspecialized chat management system might be one of the reasons why YouTube is not chosen by many.

In addition, it seems that Twitch’s interactive features, such as its system which increases live participation by allowing viewers to intervene in streaming with channel points obtained by watching the stream, will be important in the choice of platform.

Chaemoon Han
Grade 9

Dhahran Middle School