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Internet giants struggle to keep pace with new video-sharing sites
For South Korea’s Internet industry, the watchword of the moment is user-created content (UCC). As South Korea’s major Internet portals such as Naver, Daum, and Nate have stepped up their efforts to create new revenue streams through user-generated online contents. In addition, with the number of visitors to video-sharing Web portals such as Pandora TV and Africa surpassing the number of visitors to existing Internet portals’ video service sites, some industry officials predict that a changing of the guard will precipitate a second Internet boom in 2007. This year, the most-watched video clip was the video of a group of female middle-school students holding a fellow classmate hostage and beating her repeatedly. The number of hits for the video clip, first posted on December 21, passed 1.15 million in 24 hours. Word of mouth about the clip also prompted police to launch an investigation into the case, which led to the arrests of the four perpetrators. Various other video clips featured controversial acts - for example, an elementary school teacher meting out corporal punishment, and a girl tying helium balloons to a dog and setting it afloat - gained attention from Internet users for their notoriety. Also popular was a mini-documentary about South Korea’s make-or-break college entrance examination and a 26-year-old man who overcame cerebral palsy to become a pianist. Market observers predict that in 2007, the user-generated content market is likely to lead the overall Internet market. Online portals are preparing to launch video-centered Web sites and blog services. In the case of Daum, South Korea’s second-largest Internet portal, its video-sharing services ‘TV Pod’ and ‘Daum Video’ attracted 6.65 million visitors as of October and posted 82.8 million page views. Cyworld and Naver are also planning to introduce new UCC-centered online community services during the first half of next year, heralding another era in the fierce competition among the nation’s top three Internet companies.But Internet portals solely based on video sharing are posing a strong challenging to the existing Internet giants. Pandora TV attracted 6 billion won (US$6.8 million) in investment from U.S. venture capital firms in July. Last year, Pandora TV saw the number of visitors to its Web site jump 1,000 percent, bolstered by its gaining of media attention when it carried the clip of the middle-school abusers. In addition, similarly UCC-based Gom TV attracted 20 billion won in investment from CJ Media, and UCC site Damoim was acquired by media giant SM Entertainment. Competition is heating up for Internet companies to secure the right mix of user-created content. Some are focusing on raising the quality of the videos they carry, while others simply want to hold as many of such content as possible. Daum and Gom TV even provide video-recording facilities for users. Pandora TV is putting its efforts in securing more video clips by offering financial incentives for users. Attention is focused on which company will move to the fore of this new online arena. Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]
