Sports Seoul Company

What Sports Seoul Company does

Sports Seoul Company (주식회사 스포츠서울; the corporate entity was also renamed (주)한류타임즈 / Hallyu Times Co., Ltd. in January 2019) is a KOSDAQ-listed Korean media company founded in June 1985 as Korea's first dedicated daily sports newspaper, headquartered at Joyang Building, 5 Samil-daero 6-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul. The company operates a multi-platform publishing business centered on the sportsseoul.com web portal, a daily print newspaper (14,000 KRW/month subscription or 1,000 KRW single copy), mobile applications (Sports Seoul Toto 365 and 행운로또 365 / Lucky Lotto 365), and a 9-million-image photo archive accumulated continuously since 1968 across Sports Seoul, Sunday Seoul, Weekly Sports, TV Guide, Queen, and Parce magazines.

The product portfolio is organized around a single digital publishing platform that aggregates Korean-language news across World Cup, Sports, Entertainment, Life/Economy, Politics, and National/Regional sections, supplemented by module-brands including VOD (Sports Seoul Shorts), photo archive, webtoon/comic, fortune-telling, and a print PDF viewer, with parallel Korean and Japanese editions (sportsseoulweb.jp). Identity verification is handled through Korea Credit Bureau (KCB) and social login via Naver and KakaoTalk. The company also operates named annual events including the Seoul Music Awards (서ul가요대상, since 1990), The Seoul Awards (since 2017), the Sports Seoul Marathon, the Pro Baseball Player of the Year Awards, and the Women's Queen Soccer Tournament.

Revenue is generated through online and print advertising (sold via a regional sales-office network covering Seoul, Daejeon/Chungcheong, Busan/Gyeongnam, Daegu/Gyeongbuk, and Gwangju/Jeolla), paid print circulation, mobile in-app advertising, photo-archive licensing to broadcasters and production companies, and event sponsorship and ticketing. Customer segments include sports and entertainment readers (skewed 20-40s male office workers), K-pop and entertainment fans, B2B photo licensors, and brand advertisers in financial, pharmaceutical, public-sector, and conglomerate verticals. The company entered court-supervised rehabilitation in April 2020, executed a capital reduction in January 2021, and underwent a corporate spin-off (분할) in mid-2024, but continues to actively publish via sportsseoul.com and schedule flagship events such as the 35th Seoul Music Awards in 2026.

Name

Sports Seoul Company

Legal name

(주)스포츠서울 (Sports Seoul Co., Ltd.)

Website

https://sportsseoul.com

Company type

Public

Founded year

1985

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Sports Seoul Company is a KOSDAQ-listed Korean media publisher operating sportsseoul.com, a daily print newspaper, mobile apps, and a 9-million-image photo archive. It serves sports and entertainment readers, brand advertisers, and B2B photo licensors across Korea and Japan.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Sports News Publishing

NAICS

Spectator Sports (71121), Promoters of Performing Arts, Sports, and Similar Events (7113)

SIC

Newspapers: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2711)

akta.pro primary industry

B2B Sports Digital Syndication & White-Label Streaming Services (MPAKAOAJ)

akta.pro secondary industry

Sports & Event Media Rights Licensing (MPADALAE)

Keywords

• Sports news publishing
• Digital news portal
• Entertainment media
• Newspaper publishing
• Photo archive licensing

Headquarters

HQ city

Seoul

HQ country

South Korea

HQ region

Asia

Offices6 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Online advertising (banner & native): Display, video, and native advertising on sportsseoul.com across PC and mobile; rates are quote-based and sold by a regional inside-sales team. Audience skews 20-40s male, office-worker segment.
2. Newspaper display advertising: Print display ads in the daily Sports Seoul newspaper, sold by regional sales offices (Seoul, Daejeon/Chungcheong, Busan/Gyeongnam, Daegu/Gyeongbuk, Gwangju/Jeolla) with rate cards and house ad guidelines; rate is variable/negotiated.
3. Newspaper subscription sales: Paid print circulation at 14,000 KRW/month (1,000 KRW per single copy), sold via phone (02-2001-0063) and email subscriptions, providing recurring subscription revenue.
4. Photo archive licensing: Licensing of the ~9M-photo library (sourced from Sports Seoul, Sunday Seoul, Weekly Sports, TV Guide, Queen, Parce) to broadcasters, agencies, and production companies via direct inquiry. Quote-based / not publicly priced.
5. Branded event & awards revenue: Revenue from long-running owned events such as the Seoul Music Awards (서울가요대상, since 1990), Seoul International Marathon, Seoul Awards sports awards, and the Korea National Women's Soccer sponsorship — combining ticketing, sponsorship, and broadcast rights.
6. Mobile in-app advertising (Sports Toto 365 / 행운로또 365): Ad-supported mobile apps distributing sports-toto and lottery information, monetised through in-app advertising.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels7 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Sports Seoul Company publishes a Korean-language digital news portal at sportsseoul.com and a daily print newspaper, covering Korean professional sports (KBO, K-League, KBL, KLPGA, eSports), K-pop/entertainment, and general news. The company also operates a ~9 million-image photo archive available for B2B licensing, sports-toto and lottery information mobile apps, and a portfolio of branded events including the Seoul Music Awards (since 1990) and the Sports Seoul Marathon.

Product overview

Sports Seoul Company (주)스포츠서울) operates a single digital publishing platform centered on the flagship sportsseoul.com web portal, surrounded by a portfolio of integrated module-brands rather than separate products. The main portal aggregates news across Sports, Entertainment, World Cup, Life/Economy, Politics, and National/Regional sections, and embeds a set of channel-branded sub-services — Sports Seoul VOD (vod.sportsseoul.com) for video, Sports Seoul Photo (photo.sportsseoul.com) for the 9-million-image archive, the Sports Seoul Comic (comic.sportsseoul.com) and Fortune (fortune.sportsseoul.com) modules run in partnership with Media Farm, and the PDF newspaper viewer (pdf.sportsseoul.com) run with Bflysoft. The company also operates the member system at mas.sportsseoul.com, which exposes social login (Naver, KakaoTalk), identity verification through KCB, and a SyncSync-powered Fandom Zone. Standalone mobile apps — Sports Seoul Toto 365 and Luck Lotto 365 — extend the brand into sports-betting and lottery information. Beyond digital, the company runs offline sub-brands: the Seoul Music Awards (seoulmusicawards.com), the Sports Seoul Marathon, the Women's Queen Soccer Tournament, the Pro Baseball Player of the Year Awards, the Sports Seoul Prize Horse Race, the Seoul Success Awards, the Miss Intercontinental Korea pageant, the Hanryu Times economic newspaper, the free commuter paper Good Morning Seoul, and the U.S. print editions Sports Seoul USA / New York / Washington. Internationally, the platform is also published as a Japanese-language digital edition at sportsseoulweb.jp.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• 서울가요대상 (Seoul Music Awards / SMA): Annual South Korean music awards ceremony organized by Sports Seoul, first held in December 1990; now in its 35th edition (2026). Operated via seoulmusicawards.com.
• 스포츠서울 USA (Sports Seoul USA)
• 스포츠서울 워싱턴 (Sports Seoul Washington)
• 스포츠서울 뉴욕 (Sports Seoul New York)
• 굿모닝서울 (Good Morning Seoul)
• Sports Seoul Digital Japanese Edition
• 행운로또 365 (Lucky Lotto 365)
• 스포츠서울 토토365 (Sports Seoul Toto 365)
• 더서울어워즈 (The Seoul Awards)
• 스포츠서울 마라톤 (Sports Seoul Marathon)
• 여왕기축구대회 (Women's National Soccer Tournament)
• 프로야구 올해의 상 (Pro Baseball Player of the Year Awards)
• 서울 석세스 대상 (Seoul Success Awards)
• 서울 스포츠 비전 심포지엄 (Korea Sports Vision Symposium)

Products and services

• Sports Seoul Digital News Portal (sportsseoul.com) Flagship free, ad-supported Korean-language web portal at sportsseoul.com distributing categorised sports, entertainment, World Cup, life/economy, politics, and national/regional news, plus photo, video, comic, and fortune sub-channels, targeted at Korean sports and entertainment readers.
• Sports Seoul Daily Print Newspaper (스포츠서울) Daily print newspaper covering Korean professional sports, entertainment, and lifestyle, sold by monthly subscription at 14,000 KRW (or 1,000 KRW per single copy) via phone (02-2001-0063) and email, distributed alongside digital properties.
• Sports Seoul Photo Archive (포토라이브러리) B2B archival photo service housing approximately 9 million images (2.5M digital + 6.8M film + 150K prints) spanning Sports Seoul, Sunday Seoul, Weekly Sports, TV Guide, Queen, and Parce from 1968 onward, licensed to broadcasters, agencies, and production companies via direct inquiry.
• Sports Seoul Toto 365 Mobile Application (스포츠서울 토토365) Android/iOS mobile application providing Korean sports-toto (sports betting) information and guides to end users, monetised through in-app advertising.
• Luck Lotto 365 Mobile Application (행운로또 365) Android/iOS mobile application providing Korean lottery results and number information to end users, monetised through in-app advertising.
• Sports Seoul Digital Japanese Edition (スポーツソウル / 動画 Waves) Dedicated Japanese-language digital edition of Sports Seoul (sportsseoulweb.jp) distributing Korean sports and Hallyu news to Japanese readers, with short-form 動画 (Waves) video branding.
• Seoul Music Awards (서울가요대상 / SMA) Annual South Korean pop-music awards ceremony organised by Sports Seoul since 1990, operated as a separate branded property at seoulmusicawards.com and monetised through ticketing, sponsorship, and broadcast rights.
• Sports Seoul Marathon (스포츠서울 마라톤) Annual marathon event operated continuously by Sports Seoul since November 2003 as part of the company's sports-event portfolio, monetised through registration fees and sponsorship.
• The Seoul Awards (더서울어워즈) Annual movie and drama awards ceremony first held in October 2017 and operated as a separate branded Sports Seoul property.
• Women's Queen Soccer Tournament (여왕축구대회) Annual Korean women's soccer tournament first held in April 1993 and operated continuously as part of Sports Seoul's sports-event portfolio.
• Pro Baseball Player of the Year Awards (프로야구 올해의 상) Annual Korean professional baseball awards ceremony first held in December 1986, organised by Sports Seoul.
• Seoul Success Awards (서울 석세스 대상) Annual business and leadership awards ceremony operated as part of Sports Seoul's awards-event portfolio.
• Miss Intercontinental Korea (미스인터콘티넨탈코리아) Korea-licence beauty pageant feeding the international Miss Intercontinental competition, operated by Sports Seoul as part of its event portfolio.
• Sports Seoul USA / New York / Washington Overseas Editions Korean-language print and digital editions of Sports Seoul distributed in the United States for the Korean diaspora — Sports Seoul USA (1999), Sports Seoul New York (October 2003), and Sports Seoul Washington (February 2004).
• Good Morning Seoul Free Newspaper (굿모닝서울) Free commuter newspaper launched in March 2004 and distributed in Seoul as part of Sports Seoul's printed-media portfolio.
• Hanryu Times Economic Daily Newspaper (한류타임즈) Comprehensive economic daily newspaper launched in June 2019 by the parent entity (then renamed (주)한류타임즈) to expand the media group into economic news.
• Sports Seoul Toto Guide Print (스포츠서울 토토가이드) Print sports-toto information guide first issued in November 2004, providing betting-related information to Korean sports-toto players.

Quantifiable outcome

• ~9 million-photo archive (2.5M digital + 6.8M film + 150K prints) accumulated since 1968 across Sports Seoul, Sunday Seoul, Weekly Sports, TV Guide, Queen, and Parce magazines.
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles6 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration12 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core operational partner and related entity.

• Korea Credit Bureau (KCB / 코리아크레딧뷰로)core operational partnerTechnology or IntegrationKCB is Sports Seoul's identity-verification vendor; their terms of use explicitly list KCB among third parties receiving personal data for the purpose of identity verification. Privacy officer: 박희중, contact [email protected].
• Media Farm (미디어 팜)core operational partnerTechnology or IntegrationMedia Farm is integrated into Sports Seoul to deliver the comic (만화) and fortune-telling (운세) sections on sportsseoul.com, with associated personal-data sharing disclosed in the privacy policy.
• SyncSync (싱크싱크)core operational partnerTechnology or IntegrationSyncSync is the vendor behind Sports Seoul's fandom-zone (팬덤존) services, with personal data shared under the privacy policy for the operation of that feature.
• Bflysoft (비플라이소프트)core operational partnerOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing PartnerBflysoft provides the embedded PDF viewer used across Sports Seoul web properties, listed as a service partner in the company's terms of use.
• Sports Seoul Extreme (스포츠서울 익스트림)related entityStrategic or Co-development PartnerSports Seoul Extreme is identified in the terms of use as a related entity for which joint personal-data handling is disclosed; treated as an affiliated brand / business unit rather than a third-party vendor.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Naver Sports: Naver's sports news vertical is the dominant Korean-language sports news destination and a primary aggregator/distribution channel for sports content; it competes directly with sportsseoul.com for sports news audiences and advertising budgets.
• ESPN: Global sports media leader in editorial coverage, video, and ad-supported digital sports content; represents an international reference point for Sports Seoul's sports news and event/sponsorship business model, though not a direct competitor in Korea.
• Naver: Korea's dominant internet portal operates Naver Sports, Naver TV, and provides identity/login and traffic distribution that Sports Seoul depends on; the broader Naver ecosystem competes for the same advertising budgets and audience attention.

Direct peers

• Ilgan Sports (일간스포츠): Established Korean daily sports newspaper and digital portal that competes directly with Sports Seoul in both print subscription and digital sports news coverage.
• Sports DongA (스포츠동아): Korean daily sports newspaper and online portal from Dong-A Ilbo group; a direct peer to Sports Seoul in print sports journalism and digital sports coverage in Korea.
• Dispatch (디스패치): Korean entertainment news outlet specializing in K-pop celebrity coverage and paparazzi content; overlaps significantly with Sports Seoul's entertainment section and competes for the same advertiser base.
• MK Sports (MK스포츠): Korean daily sports newspaper from the Maeil Kyungjae group, directly competing with Sports Seoul's print sports journalism and digital sports coverage in Korea.
• OSEN: Korean entertainment and sports news outlet under the Hankyung media group; competes with Sports Seoul's entertainment and sports sections, particularly for K-pop and celebrity coverage audiences.
• Sports Chosun (스포츠조선): Daily Korean sports newspaper and digital portal from the Chosun Ilbo group, directly competing with Sports Seoul's print and online sports coverage for both readers and advertisers in the Korean sports news market.
• Newsen (뉴스엔): Korean entertainment and sports news portal directly competing with Sports Seoul's 연예 (entertainment) section for K-pop, drama, and celebrity readership and ad revenue.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/sportsseoul1
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCWstBK25X13EecEORumYEnw
• Facebookfacebook.com/sportsseoul1
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/hanryu-times-co-krx-039670-
• Instagraminstagram.com/sportsseoul

Compliance7 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Sports Seoul Company