Streaming platform Twitch to exit S. Korea due to ‘prohibitively expensive’ network costs

By Park Sae-jin Posted : December 7, 2023, 11:09 Updated : December 7, 2023, 11:09 [Courtesy of Twitch] SEOUL — One of the world’s most popular online streaming platforms, Twitch, will exit South Korea in early 2024 due to extremely high network fees that are 10 times higher than in most countries, the streaming platform’s CEO said through his blog. Twitch, with about 140 million monthly active users as of August 2023, offers creative online spaces for content creators called streamers who mainly broadcast their content live. Fans can choose and access their favorite streamers’ channels to watch video content and interact in real time. Fans can donate or pay for a subscription to a channel to watch premium content. Streamers can make millions of dollars from fans’ donations and subscription fees. Internet service providers or network companies charge network fees to online-based services that use Internet traffic to make a profit. Services that require a lot of data traffic focus on the development of encoding technology that will minimize the size of video and sound data while maintaining quality. Sometimes, streaming service operators limit the maximum resolution of streamed video files to save operating costs. Through a statement uploaded
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