Naver’s live-streaming V app is expected to be a major growth engine for the company, according to industry watchers.

The service launched in September garnered an accumulative 8 million downloads and runs a total of 97 channels as of November. It was played over 180 million times and viewers left over 41 million comments on their stars’ channels, according to the nation’s largest search engine.

Apart from the broadcasts of hotshot K-pop singers and actors, the service has been expanding into diverse areas including cooking and cartoon. Webtoons, translated into six Asian languages for the service, are also gaining traction in the region.

Kim Sung-eun, analyst from LIG Investment & Securities said in his report, “Naver has made a growth engine for the mid- and long-term on the strength of the launch of LINE Live and the global popularity of V app.”

Naver’s real-time broadcasting app V allows fans to interact with their favorite K-pop stars through live broadcasts. The app is available for Android and iOS. For more information, visit www.vlive.tv.

By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)

Google Play https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.naver.vapp
Apple App Store https://itunes.apple.com/app/id1019447011?mt=8