[Edaily Reporter Yun Junghoon ] Naver’s (NAVER(035420)) streaming platform “Chijichik” is accelerating its push into the global esports market. Following last year’s success, the platform has secured exclusive live broadcasting rights for all events at this year’s “Esports World Cup 2026” (hereinafter “EWC 2026”), the world’s largest esports tournament. This strategy aims to simultaneously expand the platform’s influence and achieve a “lock-in” effect.

According to Naver on the 3rd, Chijichik will exclusively live-stream all 25 events of the EWC 2026, which runs from July 6 to August 23. With a total prize pool exceeding $75 million (approximately 110 billion won), Chijichik is significantly expanding its coverage compared to last year (15 events) in an effort to attract esports fans.

First, Naver Chizichik will produce Korean-language broadcasts for nine titles that are of high interest to domestic fans at this year’s tournament, including △League of Legends △Valorant △PUBG: Battlegrounds △Overwatch. For the remaining six titles, Korean-language broadcasts will be provided only for the finals, and AI subtitles will be applied to matches broadcast in English to create a more immersive viewing experience. This AI subtitling feature is characterized by its ability to quickly reflect the game situation and context in real-time, low-latency live broadcasts, providing natural translations. It was developed to effectively understand context and handle the highly specialized terminology of the esports domain.

Full Deployment of AI Technology… Balancing ‘Viewer Immersion and Convenience’

AI-based convenience features will also be expanded to further enhance the viewing experience. Chijijik plans to apply an AI clip feature to major Korean-language broadcasted esports titles, allowing viewers to enjoy highlights of decisive moments even faster. Additionally, an AI chapter feature will be applied to all Korean-language broadcasted titles, making it easier for viewers to find specific game sequences and key scenes.

To ensure viewers can enjoy every moment of the EWC without missing a thing, Chizichik will also offer a variety of exclusive content. Following last year’s collaboration with popular streamers and influencers—including Untara, Daju, and Mimiminu—to convey the on-site atmosphere, Chizichik plans to send its own popular streamers to Paris during this year’s EWC to present diverse content capturing the tournament’s atmosphere and the vivid reactions of players and fans.

Strengthening the Community Through a “Streamer and Original Content” Two-Track

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“Sseul.Keun.Ji” (Uselessly Vast Knowledge of the Rift), Chijijik’s original League of Legends analysis podcast, will also return with a special EWC episode. “Sseul.Keun.Ji” is Chijijik’s original content that has consistently provided match analysis and engaged with the fanbase, focusing primarily on League of Legends esports leagues hosted by Riot Games, such as the LCK and MSI. Through the EWC special episode, Chijijik plans to provide content—including coverage of key participating teams, match highlights, and strategic analysis—that will allow fans to enjoy the tournament on a deeper level.

Last May, Chijichik broadcast “Road to EWC,” the EWC qualifiers, and really ramped up the excitement leading up to the main event. During the “Road to EWC” period, Chijichik live-streamed the League of Legends qualifiers for the Korean and European regions, as well as the Valorant regional qualifiers. Across all titles, it recorded a cumulative viewership of 7.37 million and 15.62 million cumulative views, with a total of 1,142 streamers participating in Chijichik’s “Watch Together” feature. For the main tournament, Chizich plans to enhance the community-driven viewing experience for esports fans by combining official broadcasts with streamer commentary, real-time chat, and fan-driven cheering culture through its “Watch Together” content.

Shin Seul-gi, Head of Game Content Partnerships at Naver, stated, “As the EWC is an esports festival that brings together globally popular titles and diverse fan communities, Chizich plans to combine live broadcasts of all titles, AI-powered convenience features, and ‘Watch Together’ content to provide a viewing environment where fans can enjoy familiar titles more deeply and new titles more easily.” “Moving forward, we will continue to expand Chijijik’s unique viewing culture—where users can enjoy and participate together in a multi-dimensional way—based on popular IPs, the streamer ecosystem, and Naver’s technological capabilities,” she added.