NAVER Plus Membership to Exceed 10 Million Accumulated Subscribers, Nurturing Mutual Growth with Partners
NAVER Plus Membership to Exceed 10 Million Accumulated Subscribers, Nurturing Mutual Growth with Partners
NAVER Plus Membership to Exceed 10 Million Accumulated Subscribers, Nurturing Mutual Growth with Partners
- NAVER’s paid membership program shows strong growth driven by diverse subscriber benefits and a high accumulation rate of NAVER Pay Points
- NAVER introduced a new partnership model for growing together with SMEs, creators and partners
- NAVER Plus membership draws attention as a success case among e-commerce membership programs in Korea
2022.06.07
NAVER Corporation (KRX: 035420) announced today that its paid membership program NAVER Plus Membership is showing strong growth and will reach 10 million accumulated subscribers this year. NAVER has been able to attract more subscribers to join its membership service with specialized and diversified membership benefits, including a high Pay Points accumulation rate based on NAVER Shopping, partnerships with affiliates and linkages with various digital content platforms, such as WEBTOON and VIBE.
■ Membership attracts 8 million subscribers with various benefits and high point accumulation rate
NAVER Plus Membership, which is celebrating its second anniversary, currently has 8 million subscribers. Since the launch of this paid membership, NAVER has focused on diversifing benefits and providing more value for paid members. Benefits include unlimited access to broadcast content on TVING, the Korean online streaming service provider run by entertainment giant CJ ENM (March 2021); linked mileage with Korean Air, which enables SKYPASS members to use miles for NAVER Plus membership (July 2021); introduction of a NAVER-Hyundai private label credit card (PLCC) (August 2021); and unlimited access to live sports streaming service SPOTV NOW (December 2021).
In January and June 2022, NAVER expanded the membership program by launching an annual term, which is about 20% cheaper than a monthly term, and added the ‘With Family’ feature that allows existing subscribers to share membership benefits with up to three other people by signing up as a family without paying an additional fee.
The high Pay Points accumulation rate of NAVER Plus membership is also receiving positive feedback from subscribers. Members can earn up to 5% of the payment amount as NAVER Pay Points when using NAVER Pay as the payment method on services, such as NAVER Shopping or NAVER Reservation and WEBTOON. This means that members can receive more points than the cost of the annual membership fee when spending at least KRW 80,000 a month using NAVER Pay. Currently, the average point accumulation of Plus membership subscribers is 20,000 points, which is five times higher than the membership fee. NAVER Plus membership offers a high point accumulation rate, with subscribers earning up to 6.58 million points per month.
■ NAVER Pay Membership grows faster as it creates synergies in the NAVER commerce ecosystem
This high accumulation rate is creating stronger synergies by establishing a mutually beneficial structure that leads to sales growth of SMEs in the NAVER Commerce ecosystem. The payment amount by subscribers using NAVER Shopping increased by 135% compared to before joining the membership program, and 40% of Smart Store transactions are being generated by subscribers. Strong synergies within the creator ecosystem through NAVER’s membership are also being created. The number of subscribers who pay for digital comics and web novels through membership benefits increased by 50%.
The membership is also creating a win-win effect for corporate partners. TVING has more than tripled its total subscribers in one year, and SPOTV NOW has increased its subscribers by more than 50% in five months compared to before the partnership. NAVER Plus membership subscribers who use TVING consumed an average of 66 pieces of content per person per month, and SPOTV NOW users watched an average of 18 live games and 23 game highlights per person per month. In addition, 95% of customers who have been issued NAVER Hyundai Cards are actually using the card.
■ NAVER strengthens membership benefits, such as personal cloud and unlimited music streaming services for subscribers
NAVER will further upgrade its basic membership benefits to provide differentiated membership experiences. Starting at the end of June, NAVER Plus members will be added new digital content benefits, such as free 80 GB storage of MYBOX, the NAVER’s personal cloud storage service, and unlimited access to VIBE, the NAVER’s music streaming service. NAVER plans to diversify its membership partnerships going forward.
“NAVER Plus membership is enhancing its service competitiveness by focusing on designing unparallel benefits for membership subscribers with various partners, said Choi Soo-yeon, NAVER CEO. “We will continue to make efforts to increase the level of benefits, further increasing user satisfaction.”
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