Media / Live-streaming (Afreeca TV)
In one of my previous Ning posts, I have covered the topic of Mukbang. Mukbang is a type of content for live streaming, which has been very popular among Koreans for many years. Along with mukbang, other types of content include talk-bang, cook-bang, game-bang, study-bang, and girl or boy cams. These content names are abbreviations of the activities followed by “bang” which means room but also an abbreviation of bang-song (show). This popularity of live streaming all started with Korea’s own internet broadcasting platform, Afreeca TV. Afreeca TV stands for “Anybody can Freely Broadcast TV.”
After its appearance in 2006, the popularity of live streaming has greatly increased due to its ranking system and star balloons sent by viewers that convert to real cash. Viewers tended to send these star balloons as they were also ranked between other fans. There was an unwritten rule that streamers should have a signature reaction for their fans who sent the star balloons. These reactions included dancing, singing, or aegyo (expressing with a cute, baby-like manner). This platform became another influential community, allowing streamers to personally connect with their fans.
However, there seemed to be a limit of Afreeca TV as it was only used among Korean users and specifically younger users. A problem with the Afreeca TV platform is that it could tend to get very violent, disturbing, and inappropriate to attract more attention. Another controversy was that Afreeca TV did not treat their streamers fairly. Due to the falling Afreeca TV trend and appearances of competitive live streaming platforms, the popularity of foreign entertainment platforms started arising. Users started using YouTube, Twitch, Popcorn TV, and Kakao TV to reach their fans. YouTube has been around for a long time but now with different functionalities like live streaming and shorts. Twitch is mainly used for game-bangs (gaming) while still communicating with the viewers. Popcorn TV is an LLC that supports the development of the live streaming while incorporating free ads. Finally, the Kakao TV is a Korean based messaging platform but incorporated the live streaming process like Instagram.
The streamers were able to reach a wider audience using these platforms that were used worldwide. Some of these streamers became extremely popular, they started entering the broadcasting television shows. This transition also applied to broadcasting television shows. These shows would edit their episodes into shorter videos to stream on YouTube to attract more viewers and provide convenience.
One of the live streamers, Poongja, started off her career on Afreeca TV. Her typical content was talk-bang, sharing her personal experiences. When YouTube became the new trend, Poongja shifted from Afreeca TV to YouTube Live. She would also edit snippets from her live streams into full YouTube videos. After shifting to YouTube, Poongja started collaborating with other popular YouTubers to gain more attraction. She had also broadened her content by putting up mukbangs and makeup videos. When she reached a high number of subscribers, Poongja started appearing on television shows. These live-streaming/video content platforms started blurring the line between all different types of entertainment platforms. I believe that the shift of the fast-paced media has greatly affected this transformation.
Comments