SOOP Reports Sharp Drop in Q2 Earnings... "Focusing on Streamer Onboarding and Ecosystem Vitalization"

Operating and Net Profit Halved from Last Year
"Impact of Tax Audit...Taking the Situation Seriously"
"New UI/UX to be Unveiled at the End of the Year"

SOOP saw both revenue and operating profit decline in the second quarter, affected by a decrease in platform and advertising sales as well as the aftermath of a tax audit. The management stated that they are taking the current situation seriously and plan to focus on increasing the influx of new streamers and users in the second half of the year.

SOOP logo. Provided by SOOP

On July 31, SOOP announced that, on a consolidated basis, its operating profit for the second quarter of this year was provisionally tallied at 12.6 billion won, a decrease of 57.9% compared to the same period last year. During the same period, revenue dropped by 11.2% to 103.8 billion won, and net profit fell by 61.1% to 8.7 billion won.

Breaking down revenue by segment, platform revenue came to 74.1 billion won, down 12.3% year-on-year, while advertising revenue was 27.2 billion won, a decrease of 11.6%. SOOP explained that the advertising revenue was slightly reduced due to a short-term base effect from changes in the e-sports schedule. The company added that it plans to gradually improve platform revenue in the second half of the year.

Operating expenses increased by 5% year-on-year to 91.2 billion won. Although labor costs decreased by 1.5%, paid commission expenses, such as broadcasting rights, rose by 24.4% to 11.4 billion won, and streamer support funds also increased by approximately 30% to 3.3 billion won.

During the earnings conference call on the same day, SOOP CEO Lee Minwon said, "Donations-based revenue in the second quarter began to recover, and traffic levels also returned to last year's figures. However, overall performance fell short of expectations due to one-off costs related to the tax audit and overlapping strategic investments." He said, regarding the specific amount of additional tax assessment, "It is difficult to disclose, but it remains below the amount subject to mandatory legal disclosure."

CEO Lee further commented, "From the perspective of the growth of the streamer and content ecosystem, this is a moment to objectively assess and change our approach. However, SOOP's live-streaming competitiveness and the foundation of the streamer ecosystem, which have been built over many years, remain robust."

He added, "We are preparing a variety of policies and systems to increase both the influx of streamers and the vibrancy of their activities. We plan to introduce a system where streamers can directly discover and nurture new streamers, as well as a performance recognition system to boost streamers' activity and motivation."

He went on to say, "By applying various AI-based features such as personalized recommendations, chat, and translation, we are enhancing the convenience for both streamers and users, while also lowering the language barrier for global users. In the future, we plan to unveil a new user interface and experience (UI·UX) for streamers at a dedicated event."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.