SOOP Co., Ltd., the South Korean esports tournaments streaming platform (formerly known as AfreecaTV), reported its financial results for the third quarter of 2026 on October 30.
The company made an operating profit of 14.5 billion Korean won, or roughly $10 million. That is better than the previous quarter but far below the same period last year.
Here’s a quick overview of SOOP’s Q3 financial report:
- Revenue (total money coming in) was 105.7 billion won, about $73 million. That is 16.0% lower than in Q3 2025, but 1.8% higher than in Q2 2026.
- Operating profit was 14.5 billion won, roughly $10 million. That is down 59.9% from a year earlier, but up 15.0% from the previous quarter.
- Net profit (what remains after all costs, including taxes and other items) was 10.6 billion won, about $7.3 million. That is down 64.0% from a year earlier and up 21.0% from the previous quarter.
Operating profit is the money a company has left after paying the everyday costs of running its business, such as staff, servers and marketing.
Operating expenses stayed roughly flat at about 91.2 billion won ($62.9 million). SOOP said the improvement over the previous quarter came mainly from a recovery in advertising income and from the absence of one-time costs that had been recorded in the second quarter. It said the steep drop from last year was mostly caused by weakness in its main platform business.
That weakness is easier to understand by looking at where SOOP’s money comes from. The company earns revenue in two main ways: from viewers paying on the platform and from advertisers. The first of these is where the problem lies.
Platform revenue was 66.1 billion won (about $45.6 million), down 21.3% from a year earlier. Most of this comes from donations. On SOOP, viewers buy digital items, such as “star balloons,” and send them to streamers they like, and the platform keeps a share of the money. This has historically been the company’s biggest source of income.
SOOP said the decline had several causes: large group broadcasts by well-known streamer teams became less active, some streamers left the platform, competition for streamers and content grew, and although more people visited the site, a relatively small share of them spent money.
Advertising, the second source of income, told a more positive story. Advertising revenue was 36.8 billion won (about $25.4 million), which is 5.5% lower than a year ago but 35.4% higher than the previous quarter. Content-based advertising, meaning advertising built into streams and events, brought in 19.5 billion won, up 54.6% from the previous quarter. Platform advertising, which covers standard ads on the site and app, was about 3.2 billion won, up roughly 30%. Other advertising was about 14.1 billion won, up 16.5%.
SOOP said the growth came from brand campaigns tied to major esports events, including FC Online and the VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) Busan Roadshow. New game launches and offline marketing work, such as running tournaments, showcases and pop-up events for companies, also contributed.
Looking ahead, SOOP said it is focused on recovering its platform business while continuing to grow advertising. For the fourth quarter of 2026, it expects some major streamers to return to broadcasting and expects advertisers to spend more at the end of the year. It plans to expand its coverage of events including ASL (the StarCraft league), LCK (the League of Legends league in Korea), the League of Legends World Championship (Worlds), international esports and women’s professional volleyball, along with more partnerships with outside organisations.
To keep streamers on the platform, the company has also introduced two programs. The first is an “Emblem” system, launched in September 2026, which awards badges showing a streamer’s total activity over time and is meant to encourage regular broadcasting. The second is a “Partners Mentoring” program, started in October 2026, which brings in multi-channel networks (MCNs, companies that manage groups of streamers) and partner streamers to help new and returning streamers plan content and adjust to the platform.
Beyond streamers, SOOP is also working on the platform itself and on how it sells advertising. It plans to share a redesign proposal for its app and website by the end of 2026 and begin rolling it out in phases from 2027, with the goal of making content easier to find and the service easier to use. On the advertising side, it is preparing an integrated marketing brand called SOOPHERE, scheduled to launch officially in the first quarter of 2027.
Despite these plans, the company’s leadership acknowledged that the recovery is slower than hoped. CEO Lee Min-won said the platform market continues to change and that a full recovery in platform revenue is taking longer than the company expected.
