SOOP ESG2023

User satisfaction management, a material issue across SOOP’s business areas, is not managed and overseen by a specific decision-making body. However, several important members of SOOP are actively involved in such management and oversight. In order to quickly respond to and make decisions on sector-specific issues, including user management issues, the CEO, CFO, CTO, and the heads of each department/division hold regular weekly meetings to share and discuss issues, and when material issues arise, irregular meetings involving the heads of the department/ divisions, relevant employees, and the CEO are held to enable quick decision-making.

In addition, SOOP’s User Communication Department is a dedicated organization that improves user experience, actively communicates with users, and systematically manages user satisfaction. The CPO in charge of the User Communication Department is an expert in SOOP services, who has been practicing since 2013, and is in charge of internal management of personal information. The issues and main roles of the User Communication Department are as follows.

In order to improve user satisfaction, SOOP is improving its services from multiple angles, not only through a ‘top-down’ approach that improves service at the company level, but also through a ‘bottom-up’ approach that actively reflects user feedback from the planning stage.

Impact on Financial Position, Financial Performance, and Cash Flows

In 2023, the user-friendly service updates and increased influx of streamers/users had a positive impact on the donation-based economy revenue (platform revenue). In 2023, platform revenue reached KRW 259 billion, an increase of 12.5% compared to previous year, and the detailed factors that led to this growth are UI/UX revamp, expanded support for streamers and diversified content, service enhancements such as the launch of personalized service ‘MY+’ and updates to the short-form service, and an increase in average revenue per paying user(ARPPU) due to the influx of streamers and viewers from competing platforms.

Risks and Opportunities

Platform Revenue Trends

Holding User Meetings

SOOP has been holding monthly online and offline user meetings since 2018 to collect various opinions from users. The online user meetings consist of a review of monitoring measures and history, a satisfaction survey on responses of the help desk, introduction of major service updates, and Q&A sessions. In 2023, we held a total of 12 online user meetings, and in particular, we showcased various virtual contents with virtual streamers such as virtual influencer ‘WAI.’ Thanks to these initiatives, the maximum number of viewers for the online user meetings held in 2023 exceeded 1,000, and it became SOOP’s unique content beyond simply introducing new services and updates.

In addition, in 2019, we started the ‘On-Site User Meeting’ program where we visit local high schools to directly communicate with high school users. In 2023, we visited a total of four high schools to hold user meetings. Streamers who are very popular among teenagers participated in the meetings and talked about their careers, and CEO gave a special lecture on the future of one-person media. We are also contributing to nurturing professional talent by signing MOUs with the schools we visited to foster professionals in the broadcasting and video fields and expand practical training opportunities.

On-Site User Meetings

Visiting User Meetings

User Supporters Program

SOOP’s user supporters program provides special benefits to users in the internal and external communities who have a high level of love and interest in the SOOP platform. We designate a person who will have close communication with users and provide schedule notification service for official and issue broadcasts. In addition, we strengthen intimacy with users in supporter programs through various means and events, such as tickets to official content events including Streamer Match, awards ceremonies, ASL, ALL, and Amuso(‘아뮤소’), birthday cakes and welcome packages, and quarterly tea time and online chat sessions, and expand communication with users through the supporters’ bulletin board.

User Interaction Content

Since December 2023, we have discussed with users about the direction of future updates through the ‘AfreecaTV At Work!’ content and continuously improved our service by reflecting their feedback. At the request of users, we made updates such as improving the chat UI and removing the PersonaCon/watermark and introduced the ‘Quick Apology of the Day’ section to resolve user complaints and actively communicate with users about sensitive issues. We sought to provide users with the opportunity to engage in the process of platform development by explaining the intention and situation of the service in detail, rather than simply notifying users about the service updates.

Based on SOOP’s culture of interactive communication, the ‘AfreecaTV At Work!’ content received great attention from users, with an average of over 5,000 users participating in each episode and certain episodes reaching 10,000 concurrent viewers.

‘AfreecaTV At Work!’ Content

• 
  Average Attendance of
  5,000+ Users
• 
  10,000+
  Peak Concurrent Viewers

2024 Update

SOOP has made various updates to improve the user experience ahead of the global launch. First, we ended the ‘advertising accumulation type ad balloon service,’ and made an improvement so that video ad revenue can be paid immediately to increase revenue for streamers and content producers. In addition, we have made updates such as improvement of the UX/UI, removal of the logo watermark, improvement of the readability of the chat window, and upgrade of the image quality. New updates that are scheduled include ‘Nickname Korean UTF-8’ and ‘Chatting pop-up feature.’

Expanded Operation of Communication Channels

To improve user satisfaction, we operate a variety of communication channels, including 1:1 Q&A, report channels, and a wired help desk. To provide better service during prime time, when streamers and users are more active, we expanded the service hours of our wired help desk from 18:00 p.m. to 02:00 a.m. in 2021.

In addition to our help desk, we also provide a callback counseling service. This service was initially limited to users with high sponsorship activity, new streamers, and young streamers who need additional support, but from April 2022, we expanded it to all users. We also provide regular training to strengthen the expertise of our counseling staff, and we have given a separate designation to the persons in charge of monitoring to strengthen their sense of responsibility. By doing so, we hope to improve the quality of counseling and continuously improve users’ experience on the platform.

Expanded Service Hours of Help Desk

We have processes in place to identify, assess, prioritize, and monitor actual and potential risks and opportunities related to users’ use of the platform. In particular, we conduct monthly counselling service satisfaction surveys to effectively track and evaluate satisfaction metrics. We also conduct service-related focused group interviews(FGIs) with specific user groups and individual communications once a quarter to gather more in-depth feedback. This information is reflected in a number of user management strategies, including service updates in consultation with relevant departments.

To manage user satisfaction, we conduct regular consultation satisfaction surveys and manage performance.

Percentage of Users Who are ‘Very Satisfied’ with the
Consultation (Unit: %)