Contents from competitors are also in a basket… ‘Subscription X Subscription’ in its heyday-JoongAng Ilbo

Until now, the boundaries of subscription products that had to be separately’subscribed’ are breaking down. As cooperation among companies that provide subscription content has become active, it has become possible for users to use various subscription products inexpensively. Recently, if the content of competitors is judged to be competitive, they are boldly putting them in’one basket’.

SK Telecom, in partnership with Woongjin ThinkBig, provides a discount on communication costs or data benefits by subscribing to the product’Woongjin SmartAll’, an educational content for elementary school students. If children under the age of 12 subscribe to Woongjin SmartAll through SKT’s officially certified agency, children’s communication costs are provided for 1,9800 won per month for one year. This is the price that elementary school students can use the most frequently subscribed plan (ZEM Smart Plan) for free for one year. By the end of this month, you can receive 500MB of data every month for 3 months just by applying for the experience.

LG U+ provides the contents of’Smart Homet (297,000 won per month)’ developed by Kakao VX for customers who use its mobile communication and Internet TV (PTV) for free. Kakao’s music platform Melon is holding an event in partnership with the reading platform Millie’s library. By subscribing to’Melon X Millie’s Library Pass’, Millie’s library service is provided free of charge for two months.

If the subscription products of these companies are service alliances that connect specialized fields with each other, then alliances with rival companies are also increasing. Naver launched a’Naver Plus Membership’ that provides shopping accrual and digital service vouchers for 4,900 won per month. Among the digital service usage rights, OTT of’Tebing’, an online video service (OTT) competitor, is included.

SK Broadband also exclusively discloses the content of Kakao TV, apart from the content of’Wave’, an OTT of SK Telecom and the three terrestrial companies. An official from SK Broadband said, “SK Broadband strengthens platform competitiveness by providing differentiated exclusive content, and Kakao Entertainment is a win-win strategy to increase content influence through platform expansion.”

There are also places that broker multiple subscription services altogether. Kakao connects subscription services of various companies such as rental (rental) and regular delivery through the Kakao Talk channel. Customers who want to use rental products can use the rental service through the company’s Kakao Talk channel without installing a separate application. In addition to Winia Ade’s dimchae kimchi refrigerator, it is lending home appliances and furniture from 29 companies including Body Friend, Winix, Hanssem, and Cheongho Nice. Kakao plans to expand the alliance with subscription products for SMEs this year.

As the alliance area of ​​subscription services expands, convergence subscription products are expected to pour out. SK Telecom President Park Jung-ho emphasized at the regular shareholders’ meeting on the 25th that the vision of the mobile communication business is the evolution of a subscription marketing company. In this regard, Sang-ho Lee, head of the commerce division of SK Telecom (CEO of 11st), said, “We will provide differentiated benefits unique to 11st in connection with SK Telecom’s subscription service scheduled for the second half of this year.” SK Telecom is currently preparing a subscription-type product in connection with education, rental, and travel, and plans to link online shopping to this.

Naver aims to secure 6 million members of Naver Plus membership within this year. Next year, additional family memberships that can be used by family members, and memberships for mothers, students, and businesses are expected to be released. Lee Yoon-sook, CEO of Forest CIC, who is in charge of Naver Shopping, said at Analyst Day held on the 17th, “If Naver Plus combines with memberships such as Shinsegae, E-Mart, airlines, and travel agencies, an ecosystem that has never been seen in Korea will be created.” Naver exchanged 300 billion won worth of shares with CJ Group, and promised cooperation by exchanging shares worth 250 billion won with E-Mart and Shinsegae International on the 16th of this month.

Kakao plans to introduce a content subscription platform in the first half of the year. It is a platform in which the creator creates and distributes content for news, media, music, posts, and videos, and the user subscribes to the content and interacts with the creator. A Kakao official said, “Including news, content based on the Kakao platform, such as Brunch (writing platform) and Melon (music platform), is the target, but we are considering whether to include content from external platforms.”

Ahn Jae-min, a researcher at NH Investment & Securities, said, “Most of the successful global big tech companies such as Netflix, YouTube (Google) and Amazon have grown into subscription models.” (Lock) The effect is great,” he said.

Ho-gyeom Jeon, head of the Subscription Economic Strategy Research Center at Seoul Venture University, said, “The’Wal-Mart Plus’, a membership of Wal-Mart in the United States, provides consumer-oriented benefits such as discounting gas prices at nearby gas stations. Don’t limit yourself, you should configure subscription-type services around the benefits that consumers need.”

Reporter Kim Kyung-jin [email protected]