Coupang data breach fallout hits Coupang Play

A poster for 2025 Coupang Play Series matches / Courtesy of Coupang Play

E-commerce giant Coupang’s massive data breach affecting the personal information of 33.7 million users is now spilling into the company’s ecosystem, resulting in users opting out of its streaming service, Coupang Play.

According to industry tracker IGAWorks, Coupang Play’s daily active users dropped to around 750,000 as of Dec. 23, down from its usual range of 800,000 to 1 million in 2025.

In particular, Coupang Play’s daily active users peaked at between 1.18 million and 1.28 million on Nov. 29 and 30, when Coupang disclosed the breach, before falling to 990,000 on Dec. 1. The sharp swing suggests that user activity on the platform was affected by the fallout from the data leak.

On a weekly basis, the downtrend is even more evident, with weekly active users falling from 4.09 million at the end of November to 3.46 million by mid-December, a drop of more than 600,000 users in less than a month.

The dip stems from a strategy that bundles services such as Coupang Eats and Coupang Play with free shipping and returns under a single monthly subscription called WOW. When users cancel their membership or delete their Coupang account, their access to Coupang Play is also automatically cut off, translating user concerns about the data breach into streaming service churn.

As Coupang’s handling of the data breach triggers public outrage, its daily average user base fell from about 17.99 million on Dec. 1 to 14.78 million on Friday, resulting in a drop in Coupang Play users as well.

Harold Rogers, center, interim CEO of Coupang, takes an oath during a parliamentary hearing on the company's massive data breach at the National Assembly in western Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap

Before the incident, Coupang Play had been steadily closing the gap with top player Netflix, buoyed by popular original shows and exclusive sports coverage. As users opted out of the Coupang ecosystem, however, the outflow translated into gains for rival platforms — especially Netflix, which has shored up its original content lineup with the second season of its hit cooking reality show, “Culinary Class Wars.”

The user exodus is expected to change the landscape of the local streaming market, particularly the race for second place, with Coupang Play’s homegrown rival Tving also positioned to benefit if it can capture departing users.

Disney+, Tving and Wavve recently rolled out a joint bundle that gives subscribers access to all three platforms at up to a 37 percent discount, ramping up their collective push to attract new users.

Meanwhile, the Fair Trade Commission is accelerating its review of allegations that Coupang’s WOW membership constitutes an illegal arrangement of multiple services under Korea’s fair trade law, potentially compounding the legal challenges Coupang faces as it works to stabilize its platform ecosystem. The commission said it has completed a draft of its report, which will soon be put to a formal deliberation.

YouTube previously avoided sanctions in a similar case over an alleged bundling issue with YouTube Music by introducing new subscription options and contributing around 30 billion won’s ($20.8 million) worth of funds for the local music industry, a precedent that could weigh on Coupang.