CASTIS in Press_KBL live games to global fans in US and Europe. Thanks to LGU+ FAST service

Lee Joon-woo, CEO of CASTIS, who is pursuing LG U+'s FAST business, Kim Tae-hoon, head of LG U+'s advertising commerce business, and Shin Hyun-jin, CEO of Hudson AI (from left).

Hundreds of thousands of overseas fans, including those in North America and Europe, are now watching the Korean professional baseball league, which is enjoying all-time popularity in Korea. This is made possible through LG U+'s FAST channel that supports real-time English dubbing. Starting with the KBO, LG U+ plans to accelerate its transition to a 'K-Content Export Platform' by sending more diverse content overseas.

In a recent interview with Maeil Economy, Kim Tae-hoon, head of LG Uplus' advertising and commerce business, said, "In April, we launched a FAST channel for live broadcasting of the KBO League and started sending it overseas." He added, "LG Uplus is the first telecommunications company to currently operate a FAST channel for organizing a real-time channel." FAST is an advertising-based free streaming platform that can be watched on smart TVs or the internet without a subscription.

"KBO is considered one of the three major professional baseball leagues along with the United States and Japan," Kim said. "We decided to pursue this project because we could reach overseas viewers with attractive content due to the game's real-time performance, unpredictable development, and Korea's unique cheering culture."

The KBO broadcasts, which are being sent to more than 20 countries around the world, including North America, Europe, and Latin America, exceeded 1,300 viewers per minute within 15 days and recorded a maximum of 250,000 users per day. The overall FAST channel viewing time also increased by 18 times compared to the opening period, and the average daily viewing time increased by about 16 times.

The core of this achievement is the "localization" strategy. LG U+ collaborated with domestic dubbing artificial intelligence (AI) startup "Hudson AI" to apply technology that translates KBO commentary into English and Spanish in real time and synthesizes voice. After separating the sound and commentary from the game site, only the commentary is translated and dubbed in real time to create an environment where local fans can watch the game with excitement without losing their immersion.

Shin Hyun-jin, CEO of Hudson AI, said, "We learned and applied MLB commentator-style voices and expressions so that North American viewers can watch without any sense of disconnect, because the tone of domestic commentators and Major League Baseball (MLB) broadcasts are different." He added, "We carefully tuned the expressions and nuances used in actual sports broadcasts, not just subtitles or mechanical sounds."

Another key partner is "CASTIS," which supports real-time streaming technology. CASTIS is providing AI-based advertising marker insertion technology along with ultra-low latency transmission technology.

"As viewers are reluctant to watch advertisements, it is important to insert them naturally at the right time," said Lee Joon-woo, CEO of CASTIS. "AI analyzes the video in real time, identifies the broadcast flow, such as inning changes or pitcher replacements, and automatically places related advertisements." This also increased operational efficiency by automating advertisements that were previously inserted manually by humans. Managing director Kim added, "FAST advertising is paving the way for domestic content providers to enter the overseas advertising market and creating a win-win model for growth together."

Starting with the KBO, LG U+ plans to introduce additional events to create a "Live K Sports Package." In addition, it plans to distribute more diverse K-drama, K-pop, and YouTube creator content to the global market. To this end, it recently signed a FAST transmission contract with Arirang TV.

LG U+'s strategy aligns with FAST's growth trajectory. According to market research firm Omdia, the global FAST market is expected to nearly double from $6.3 billion (about 8.7 trillion won) in 2023 to $12 billion (about 16.6 trillion won) in 2027.

In particular, FAST is rapidly emerging as a new way to consume content as the "cord-cutting" phenomenon spreads in North America. As the online video service (OTT) market becomes saturated, FAST is emerging as an alternative to fill this gap as more users grow tired of subscription fees. Another difference from OTT is that it provides a viewing environment in a 'turn-on' manner.

As a result, other domestic FAST operators such as Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, SK Broadband, and KT are also continuing to strengthen their content and technology competitiveness. Samsung Electronics, which operates "Samsung TV Plus," has been expanding its K-content lineup recently by upgrading AI recommendation technology, launching the "SM Town" channel in April this year, and introducing popular YouTube creator videos.

The government is also paying attention to FAST technology. The Ministry of Science and ICT has designated content distribution platforms such as FAST as a core task of its digital strategy and is encouraging public-private collaboration to advance AI-based dubbing and automation technology.

source : Maeil Business newspaper, 2025-7-28, by Ahn Sunjae https://www.mk.co.kr/news/it/11378759