This photo, taken on Aug. 8, 2019, shows child models watching content on LG Uplus Corp.’s pay TV service. Local video-on-demand services gained traction in the first half of this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
SEOUL, July 22 (Korea Bizwire) — South Koreans are increasingly resorting to video-on-demand (VOD) content provided by pay TV operators, industry insiders said Wednesday, as the COVID-19 pandemic has prodded people to stay at home more.
According to industry sources, the number of VOD movies sold on LG Uplus Corp.’s pay TV service increased 158 percent in the first half of this year from the previous year.
Oscar-winning film “Parasite” ranked as the most popular film on the service, while disaster flick “Contagion” ranked ninth as the film’s popularity surged amid the virus outbreak.
Animated musical film “Trolls World Tour,” which was released simultaneously in theaters and on VOD in April due to the outbreak, ranked 10th among overseas films despite only drawing an audience of 150,000 in theaters.
Purchases of foreign TV series on the service rose by 163 percent, followed by animations by 160 percent and children’s content by 135 percent, over the same period.
“Due to the impact of COVID-19, viewers watching movies and TV shows at home have increased,” an official at LG Uplus said.
Other pay TV operators also reported stronger sales from VOD services amid the pandemic.
SK Broadband Co., an affiliate of leading mobile carrier SK Telecom Co., said its VOD sales from its pay TV service in the first quarter rose 14 percent from the previous year, with sales from movie purchases jumping 24 percent.
Telecom giant KT Corp. said the purchase amount of educational content on its IPTV service rose 45 percent in the first half of this year compared to a year earlier, while children’s animation content increased by up to 30 percent over the same period.
The rise in demand for VOD services was largely a result of its subscribers spending more time at home amid the pandemic, according to the sources.
In contrast, box office admissions tumbled 70.3 percent on-year to 32.4 million viewers in the January-June period, according to the Korean Film Council.
(Yonhap)
