Naver Premium Content: Monetization & Subscription UX for Content Creators
A subscription-based content platform that empowers creators to monetize their work while providing users with seamless access to premium content.
What is ‘Premium Content’ and ‘Premium Content Studio’?
Naver Premium Content is a subscription-based platform that helps creators monetize their work while giving users seamless access to exclusive content. Naver Premium Content Studio is the creator hub, offering tools to produce, manage, and distribute content efficiently. Together, they create a dynamic ecosystem for both creators and consumers.
The Product
Premium Contents
My Role
Product designer
Responsibilities
Lead UX/UI Design
Project Duration
Nov. 2022 - Feb. 2023
The Problem
Independent content creators need a sustainable way to monetize their written content as user demand shifts toward video-based media, making it harder to generate revenue solely from text.
The Goal
Enable content creators to seamlessly integrate video into their monetization strategies, allowing them to reach a wider audience and increase engagement. NAVER Premium Content will support this by providing a scalable subscription model and analytics tools to help creators optimize their revenue.
Success Metrics
Achievements
Success were measured by increased creator adoption, user engagement, and subscription growth.
Monthly Active Users
Year-over-Year (YoY) user growth
The Problem
Shifting Content Consumption & Monetization Gaps
Creators struggled to monetize written content as users shifted to video. Consumers, influenced by platforms like YouTube Premium, became more willing to pay. NAVER needed a scalable monetization model to support both.
Creators
Creators struggled to monetize written content as consumer demand shifted towards video-based media.
Consumers
Consumers were becoming more willing to pay for digital content, influenced by platforms like YouTube Premium.
Research & Insights: Understanding Creator Needs
Creator Research (Qualitative Insights)
NAVER Premium Content needed to support hybrid content strategies—empowering creators to monetize both text and video while maintaining audience engagement.
Research & Insights: Market Trends Analysis
Quantitative Insights from 2022 Data
NAVER Premium Content needed to support hybrid content strategies—empowering creators to monetize both text and video while maintaining audience engagement.
Explosive Growth in Users & Transactions
100K+ paid users, 67K+ published contentstment-related topics led subscriptions
Creators grew from 15 to 950+, driving platform adoption
Finance & Business Content Drives the Most Revenue
Finance (39%) & investment-related topics led subscriptions
Users prefer in-depth, high-value knowledge content
— User, 30s, Premium Content Subscriber, Finance & Investment
Strong Engagement & Retention Among Paid Users
Users visited 3.3x per week, avg. session: 5+ min
Users prefer in-depth, high-value knowledge content
Growing Demand for Video Content
Top creators repurposed text into video & newsletters
NAVER launched video features in 2023 to meet demand
— Creater, Tech & Startup Writer, NAVER Premium Content & YouTube
Shift to Hybrid Content
Growing demand for text + video formats
News & education platforms adopting hybrid models
Rising Multimedia Preference
Users seek both text insights & video summaries
Integrated content boosts engagement & retention
NAVER’s Unique Positioning
Built on NAVER Blog & Café ecosystems
Seamless text & video integration for diverse user needs
Key Insights (Refined Based on Data & Trends)
Creators and users increasingly preferred hybrid content (text + video) for engagement and monetization. This demand drove the 2023 launch of NAVER’s video feature, enabling seamless integration of multimedia formats.
Users prefer high-value content but want video summaries with text analysis.
Finance, education, and business creators had the highest monetization success.
Seamless video integration was essential, leading to the 2023 video launch.
Hybrid content (text + video + newsletters) became the most effective model.
How might we design a scalable monetization platform that empowers creators while providing a seamless experience for users to subscribe and engage?
For Creators: Streamlined video publishing workflow in Premium Content Studio
Initially limited to text, the platform now supports video publishing and monetization. Creators can efficiently publish content with customizable subscription models and scheduling options.
For Subscribers: Enhanced viewing experience with seamless access to premium content
When publishing video content, the platform provides an optimized viewing experience. Videos can be mapped to playlists, and once at least one video is added, a dedicated playlist tab is created for easy access.
A payment prompt appears based on the user’s subscription status, and creators can set preview points when uploading their videos.
Takeaways
As the Product Designer for NAVER Premium Content, I am proud to see our platform’s significant growth, with a 883% increase in transaction volume and an 800% rise in active creators over the past year. These achievements underscore the effectiveness of our user-centric design approach, which focuses on empowering creators with intuitive tools and fostering a supportive ecosystem. By continually refining the user experience and addressing the evolving needs of our creators, we have enabled them to thrive, thereby driving the platform’s overall success.
