Kakao to shut down personal streaming service's profit-making system

[Courtesy of Kakao] SEOUL — South Korea’s web service company Kakao will shut down the profit-making system of its personal streaming service to focus on media businesses including the production of original video content. The strategy to narrow its focus in the media content sector benchmarks that of Netflix, the American over-the-top service operator which has become the world’s most popular media with endless waves of high-quality original content. A personal streaming service is provided via online video platforms. Each user called “creator” produces content that is broadcast live while interacting with audience through chats. Creators receive donations from viewers or broadcasting advertisements and share their profit with platform operators. Twitch and YouTube are the world’s top two most popular personal streaming service operators. Kakao TV, the personal streaming service wing of Kakao, said it would shut down its donation and profit-sharing service in July. Creators will be allowed to keep on broadcasting their content, but they cannot make a profit any longer. “We have been working since the second half of 2020 to go through our step-by-step transformation into a video content service that offers original content similar to those offered by TV channels and cable TV services,” Kakao TV…
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