AfreecaTV ( ko, 아프리카TV, short for "Any FREE broadCAsting") () is a

P2P P2P may refer to: * Pay to play, where money is exchanged for services * Peer-to-peer, a distributed application architecture in computing or networking ** List of P2P protocols * Phenylacetone, an organic compound commonly known as P2P * Poin ...

technology-based video streaming service. It is now owned and operated by AfreecaTV Co., Ltd. in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

after Nowcom's AfreecaTV Co., Ltd and

ZettaMedia Nowcom () founded in 1994, was a South Korean IT Company. Effective 2011, this corporate entity changed its name to AfreecaTV Co., Ltd () after the AfreecaTV Co.,Ltd-ZettaMedia split. The first service of Nowcom in South Korea was ''Nownuri'' w ...

split in 2011. As of July, 2019 AfreecaTV was listed 4th in the "Asia's 200 Best Under A Billion" list by

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

History

AfreecaTV initially started as a W beta service on May 11, 2005, and was officially named "AFREECA” on March 9, 2006. The site mainly re-transmits TV channels but also allows users to upload their own videos and shows. Functions such as broadcasting, viewing, channel listing, live chatting, and discussion boards are provided. Users are required to install 'Afreeca Player' for grid delivery. Independent broadcasters called broadcasting jockeys (BJs) deliver live broadcasts to viewers, who can add them to their list of favorite channels using an Afreeca Player tool. Some channels have tens of thousands of viewers at any given time. Paid services such as quick views or channel relays allow BJs additional sources of revenue. The platform ranges anywhere from TV broadcasts, live video game broadcasts, taxi driver monitoring, artist performances, and personal daily-life video blogs and shows for actresses and professional broadcasters. The head of AfreecaTV's parent company Nowcom, Mun Yong-sik, was arrested in 2008 for illegally distributing copyrighted films. Some alleged the arrest was politically motivated due to Afreeca being used by protesters to coordinate. On September 27, 2012, AfreecaTV English was released on the Google Play store. One example of expansion of Afreeca's role is the hosting of a live talk session with Mayor Park of Seoul, broadcast live online and via mobile on AfreecaTV. He used the platform as a way to conduct a community scanning forum to collect public opinions and allow bloggers with various areas of expertise to participate in the dialogue. The bloggers were able to address the problems facing Seoul and propose solutions in their areas of expertise, while also exchanging ideas with Mayor Park in an in-depth discussion on the administration of the

Seoul Metropolitan Government The Seoul Metropolitan Government is a local government of Seoul, South Korea. The mayor is elected to a four-year term by the citizens of Seoul and is responsible for the administration of the city government. The Seoul Metropolitan Government d ...

. Depending on rising of power of AfreecaTV, many Idol Groups participate in AfreecaTV for their fans, for example, Nine Muses.

Controversy

There have been many social problems with Afreeca TV such as offers for sexual favors and abasement of disabled individuals. Many broadcasters were involved in these incidents, and they were punished by managers of Afreeca TV by suspension of their IDs. Due to such problems, mass media in South Korea have shown concern about the effects of personal broadcasting platforms. A claim was made that audience overloading has caused overpayment of fees for Internet broadcasting. In light of this, Korea's Clean Internet Broadcasting Council came to an agreement with Afreeca TV to reduce the payment maximum to less than 1 million won (a little less than US$900) per day by June 2008.

Esports

Afreeca picked up the

SBENU SBENU () was an athletic footwear and apparel company based in Seoul, South Korea. Founded on 30 June 2014, SBENU had opened more than 100 retail stores nationwide by 2015. SBENU also expanded its business by becoming a major sponsor of esport ...

StarCraft II ''StarCraft II'' is a military science fiction video game created by Blizzard Entertainment as a sequel to the successful ''StarCraft'' video game released in 1998. Set in a fictional future, the game centers on a galactic struggle for dominance ...

team on January 23, 2016 and participated in

Proleague StarCraft II Proleague, also known as StarCraft Proleague or Proleague for short, was the longest running StarCraft league in the world and the most prestigious team league. Hosted by the Korean eSports Association (KeSPA), the league was played ...

. On November 21, 2016, it was announced that the team was disbanding its StarCraft II division, though it kept involvement in Starcraft up. They currently sponsor a professional

League of Legends ''League of Legends'' (''LoL''), commonly referred to as ''League'', is a 2009 multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by '' Defense of the Ancients'', a custom map for ''Warcraft III'', ...

team, Afreeca Freecs. The Starcraft 2 team was reformed at the start of 2020. Afreeca also announced on January 23, 2016 that they would be sponsoring two seasons of

Brood War ''StarCraft: Brood War'' is the expansion pack for the military science fiction real-time strategy video game ''StarCraft''. Released in December 1998 for Microsoft Windows and June 1999 for Mac OS, it was co-developed by Saffire and Blizzard E ...

tournaments. The tournament has proved popular and is now in its 14th season as of August 2022.

Esports League

AfreecaTV StarCraft League The AfreecaTV StarCraft League (ASL) () is a '' StarCraft: Remastered'' tournament series hosted by afreecaTV in South Korea. It began its first season in June 2016 and used '' StarCraft: Brood War'' for its first three seasons prior to the relea ...

(ASL) *

Global StarCraft II League Global StarCraft II League (GSL) is a '' StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void'' tournament hosted by afreecaTV and Blizzard Entertainment in South Korea. This event is broadcast up to 2 nights a week. GOMeXp (formerly GOMTV) had hosted it until the ...

(GSL) * Afreeca TV Battle Ground League (APL) * LoL ladies Battle * LoL Challengers Korea * Hearthstone battle royal

Esports broadcast relay station

Overwatch ''Overwatch'' is a multimedia franchise centered on a series of online multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) video games developed by Blizzard Entertainment: '' Overwatch'' released in 2016, and ''Overwatch 2'' released in 2022. Both games f ...

APEX relay *

Pro League Korean Relay * LoL Champions Korea Relay *

Sudden Attack ''Sudden Attack'' (Korean: 서든어택) is a free-to-play multiplayer first-person shooter online game developed by the South Korean company GameHi. On December 2, 2013, Nexon America CEO Min Kim announced plans to discontinue ''Sudden Attack'' ...

Champions League * AfreecaTV Tekken League (ATL) * Chinese League of Legend Pro League (LPL)

References

External links

Official website
{{Internet streaming services Peercasting Internet properties established in 2005 Streaming television Online companies of South Korea Peer-to-peer software Video game streaming services