[Reporter's Notebook] TVING needs trust over content despite KBO success

Jun 08, 2026, 09:44 am

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TVING has been embroiled in a personal data leak incident. / Photo via TVING

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Kim Young-jin, Reporter for Industry Department I

The recent growth of TVING was more than enough to draw attention both inside and outside the industry. This is because there have not been many instances where a homegrown player showed meaningful growth in the domestic OTT (over-the-top) market, which has been virtually dominated by Netflix. For this reason, the recent personal data leak incident goes beyond a mere security issue, leaving no small amount of regret for the entire domestic OTT industry as well.

According to Mobile Index, TVING's monthly active users (MAU) for May reached 8,818,314, ranking third following Netflix and Coupang Play. Its MAU increased by 14.4% compared to the previous month, showing the only double-digit growth rate among major domestic OTT platforms. It was an achievement driven by the combination of KBO League broadcasts and the success of original content. In particular, through the KBO League broadcasts, TVING created a steady structure for user influx rather than relying on the success of a single piece of content, thereby generating a new growth engine.

However, the large-scale personal data leak that occurred in the midst of this has thrown cold water on TVING's progress. What is even more concerning is the fact that Connecting Information (CI), rather than just personal information like names or phone numbers, was leaked.

CI is classified as highly sensitive information within the personal data protection industry. It is an individual identification value generated during the identity verification process, used to identify the same person across multiple services. While it differs from a Resident Registration Number, it effectively functions as a unique key that can continuously link an individual. Passwords can be changed and phone numbers can be altered, but CI cannot. Once leaked, it is information that users themselves can hardly control. This is exactly why the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) have gone so far as to form a joint public-private investigation team to look into this incident.

The problem is that this kind of controversy is not the first of its kind. Last year, controversy also arose when it became known that CI was included in the Lotte Card personal data leak incident. At the time, the related fine imposed by the authorities was a mere 10 million won or so. Despite handling sensitive information with a destructive power comparable to that of a Resident Registration Number, the weight of the sanctions faced by corporations upon an incident is at a slap-on-the-wrist level. Consequently, points are continuously being made that urgent discussions on fundamental system improvements by the authorities are necessary, regarding whether it is appropriate to allow corporations to store CI permanently even after verification is complete, and whether a transition to one-time identification codes is possible.

The domestic OTT industry is still struggling in its competition against global platforms. Netflix dominates the market based on its massive capital power and global subscriber base, while YouTube absorbs the time of virtually all age groups. Under these circumstances, TVING, by securing users based on the KBO and domestic content, was demonstrating the viability of one of the few homegrown OTT platforms.

This is why the current situation is all the more regrettable. The growth momentum built with great difficulty is being shaken not by content competitiveness, but by security issues. The OTT competition is ultimately a battle to secure the user's time. However, what is needed before that is the user's trust. No matter how much good content and broadcasting rights a platform secures, the moment users feel uneasy about entrusting their personal information, the platform's competitiveness cannot help but weaken.

This is the reason why TVING must use this incident as an opportunity to go beyond mere damage control and create an occasion to ensure more transparent disclosure of information, implement measures to prevent recurrence, and furthermore, overhaul its overall personal data protection system. That would be its responsibility toward users, as well as the minimum condition for the domestic OTT industry to achieve sustainable growth.

Kim Young-jin

#TVING #Data leak