Naver's Chzzk will be tested again through the FIFA North and Central America World Cup in June. Chzzk has expanded user inflows by putting major sports and esports broadcasts at the front, including League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK), the Esports World Cup (EWC) and the Winter Olympics. Its exclusive online broadcast of the World Cup is expected to be an event that reaffirms that formula.

It is unclear, however, whether the formula will work again. Chzzk leads SOOP in monthly active users (MAU), but still has a task to narrow the gap in total watch time and its monetisation foundation. Concerns are also emerging that the World Cup boost may not appear as much as expected, as negative public sentiment surrounding the Korea Football Association coincides with reduced interest in the national team.

FACTBOX: Growth formula proven with the LCK

Chzzk's strategy of bringing in users with major broadcast rights produced results in the LCK this year. Starting this year, the LCK shifted to a structure that can be watched only on Chzzk and SOOP, making it a key yardstick of the two companies' streaming competition. Naver said that since the LCK opened through May 1, Chzzk recorded 50.48 million cumulative plays, 26.55 million cumulative viewers and 338,000 peak concurrent users. Chzzk also led SOOP in external indicators based on official channels.

Since its official launch in May 2024, Chzzk rapidly expanded its user base by absorbing the gap created by Twitch's exit. Its structure linking with Naver Search, clips and communities also helped bring in new users. The pattern of users crowding in whenever there was a major event repeated.

Ahead of the World Cup, Chzzk is preparing an experience beyond a simple live broadcast. From June, it will exclusively stream the 2026 FIFA North and Central America World Cup as an online streaming platform. Until June 10, before the tournament opens, it will also run a “watch together” service for replays of South Korea matches from past World Cups from 1986 to 2022. Watch together is a feature that lets streamers and viewers watch content at the same time and communicate via chat. About 2 years after its introduction, it recorded 140 million hours in cumulative watch time and 82,973 cumulative live broadcasts. During the Winter Olympics, it upgraded the feature to “Watch Together Plus” by combining a cheer board sponsorship and a text-to-speech voice function.

Naver and Nexon are also pursuing “N Connect” in the same direction. N Connect is a project that links users, creators and games. It aims to invigorate Nexon game-based broadcasts within Chzzk and reflect viewer participation in the reward structure. Nexon is reported to be preparing large-scale content linked with Chzzk in “FC Online” and “FC Mobile” timed to this year's World Cup season. If it adds Naver ID login and Naver Pay payment linkage, Chzzk could expand beyond a simple broadcast platform into a hub connecting games, payments and broadcasting.

Chzzk's goal is not limited to the success of the World Cup broadcast itself. A bigger task is to connect users brought in by major events to Watch together, streamer broadcasts, game IP and payment functions to lift time spent within the platform and conversion.

FACTBOX: Variables confronting the growth formula

The issue is what happens after the inflow. Based on Mobile Index, Chzzk's MAU in March stood at 3.06 million, ahead of SOOP's 2.37 million. But in the same period, total watch time was about 42.5 million hours on SOOP and 28.5 million hours on Chzzk. By watch time share, SOOP had 59.3 percent and Chzzk had 33.4 percent, showing a gap. Chzzk draws more users, but users spend far longer on SOOP.

The difference stems from the nature of the two platforms. Chzzk is strong at drawing mass users through major sports and esports broadcasts. SOOP has a structure that keeps users longer based on a sponsorship culture centred on streamers and fandoms, joint content and participation-type broadcasts. SOOP's star-balloon-centred business model and core fandom work in its favour in both time spent and payment conversion. Even if Chzzk draws a large number of new users through the World Cup, the MAU expansion effect could remain a temporary indicator if they do not stay on the platform after the World Cup.

External variables unique to the World Cup add to this. As negative public sentiment toward the Korea Football Association spreads, some point out that the World Cup boost effect could be diluted. Chzzk's sports broadcasting strategy has entered a phase in which it needs to consider external variables such as the national team's results and public sentiment toward the association.

The LCK was backed by a steady fandom, and the Olympics by the symbolism of the Olympics. By contrast, the World Cup is an event in which the national team's results, public sentiment toward the association, match time slots, streamer participation and whether watch together becomes active intertwine. That is why some analysis says it is difficult to expect success based on securing broadcast rights alone.

FACTBOX: Focus on whether it leads to watch time and monetisation conversion

Whether Chzzk can connect users brought in by the World Cup to other content and functions within the platform is cited as a variable that will determine tangible results. If Watch together, streamer-based content and linkage with the Naver ecosystem lead to watch time and payment conversion, Chzzk's major broadcast-rights strategy could move into a monetisation stage. If worsening sentiment toward the football association overlaps with low retention conversion, questions could be raised that investment in major broadcast rights may end up as only a temporary traffic increase.

Chzzk's growth approach so far has focused on expanding user inflows. As SOOP secures long watch times based on fandom and a sponsorship economy, the pace of user churn after the World Cup and whether payments convert are expected to become key indicators of live streaming competition in the second half of the year.

An industry official said major events such as the World Cup are effective in raising platform awareness, but ultimately it is streamers and the content ecosystem that make users return repeatedly. How quickly Chzzk builds that ecosystem will be the key, the official said.