Naver Corp.’s headquarters in Seongnam, just southeast of Seoul (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Apr. 17 (Korea Bizwire) – As the new Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) season kicks off, baseball enthusiasts are flocking to interest-based chat services operated by Naver and Kakao, South Korea’s leading internet companies.
According to industry sources, Naver’s open chat service, Open Talk (Naver Talk), now features dedicated chat rooms for each of the KBO’s 10 teams. The cumulative number of visitors across these team chat rooms has surpassed 1.01 million.
The most popular team chat room belongs to the Hanwha Eagles, which drew over 330,000 visitors likely due to heightened interest surrounding the return of former major league star Ryu Hyun-Jin.
The Kia Tigers and Lotte Giants, known for their loyal fan bases, also saw over 150,000 and 120,000 visitors respectively in their chat rooms.
Naver sends push notifications to chat room participants through its app at designated times, reigniting conversations that may have lulled.
On one occasion, when a 10:30 a.m. notification alerted fans about an upcoming game, reactions such as “Why are we getting alerts on a Monday when there’s no baseball?” accompanied the revived chatter.
Kakao’s open chat service also hosts numerous chat rooms related to the KBO league, though these tend to be smaller, more intimate groups compared to Naver’s offerings.
The corporate logo of Kakao Corp. provided by the company (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
The largest KBO-related open chat on Kakao has 1,085 participants, while most others consist of just a few dozen members each. This dynamic fosters more consistent interactions and a greater sense of community among the smaller groups.
Naver and Kakao are keen on promoting their open chat services as a means to increase user engagement and platform dwell time, thereby bolstering their revenue generation capabilities.
One prime example of a focus on user engagement is Karrot Market, whose thriving regional community features attracted advertising demand from businesses, creating a new revenue stream.
Naver first launched its sports-themed open chat service in September 2022 and has since expanded to cover various topics, aiming to keep users within its platform ecosystem.
Its “Talk Talk” service, where actors promote new movies or dramas by engaging with fans through open chats, has garnered attention in the marketing industry.
Naver’s long-term strategy involves leveraging increased user dwell time from open chats to drive growth across its advertising, e-commerce, and local services businesses.
Similarly, Kakao is exploring targeted advertising avenues based on the distinct user profiles within its topical open chat groups.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
