PlayD

PlayD is a comprehensive advertising agency built around performance advertising and digital marketing, founded in 2010 and previously affiliated with KT-owned Nasmedia before joining the SOOP group in 2025.

The company centers on managing online ad inventory across display, search, and social media, and has operated roughly KRW 500 billion worth of advertising annually since its KOSDAQ listing.

In March 2025, SOOP acquired a 70% stake in PlayD for KRW 73.5 billion, aiming to build an integrated advertising service spanning performance and media advertising alongside its existing ad affiliates Privial and CTTD.

More recently, the group restructured its subsidiary portfolio by bringing advertising affiliate TTL Communications under the PlayD umbrella and spinning off Bio Essential as a separate subsidiary.

On the new-business front, PlayD has been upgrading its AI-based marketing platform 'All it,' which supports the entire ad-creative production process through copy-generation service 'Ato,' image-generation solution 'Crepas,' and video-generation service 'Panorama.' In April 2026 it also launched 'SpAIder,' a generative AI search optimization (GEO) diagnostic service, which has so far conducted assessments for 36 advertisers across 46 sites.

Internally, the firm established a dedicated 'AX Unit' and ran a second AI task force from February to August 2026, building a total of 42 AI agents and workflow-automation tools, one of which—an AI keyword-insight solution—helped win a new global beauty advertiser.

Competitively, partnership strength with major platforms such as Google, Naver, and Meta, together with AI-driven operational efficiency, remain the key differentiating factors in the market.

On an annual basis, revenue declined from KRW 43.95 billion in 2022 to KRW 37.26 billion in 2023, then recovered to KRW 38.61 billion in 2024 and KRW 40.23 billion in 2025.

Profitability improved even more clearly: the operating margin fell to a trough of 6.8% in 2023 before rebounding to 10.4% in 2024 and 15.5% in 2025. Consolidated operating profit reached KRW 6.22 billion in 2025 with owner net income of KRW 5.87 billion, roughly double the KRW 2.89 billion recorded in 2023.

On a quarterly basis, Q4 2025 was the strongest quarter of the year, with revenue of KRW 13.32 billion and operating profit of KRW 3.05 billion (an operating margin of roughly 22.9%), while Q2 2025 posted revenue of KRW 9.79 billion and operating profit of KRW 1.70 billion. The trend reversed in 2026, however.

Consolidated operating profit turned negative at roughly minus KRW 98 million in Q1 2026, a swing attributed to marketing expenses from a newly consolidated subsidiary.

Notably, a company disclosure showed standalone (non-consolidated) Q1 operating profit of KRW 822 million, sharply higher than the prior-year quarter's KRW 46 million, underscoring that the gap between consolidated and standalone results stemmed from subsidiary-level cost consolidation.

In Q2 2026, consolidated operating profit returned to positive territory at roughly KRW 89 million; according to a company announcement reported by MADTimes on July 28, 2026, first-half consolidated revenue rose 15% year-on-year to KRW 20.1 billion, while cumulative operating income remained slightly negative due to subsidiary marketing costs.

It should be noted that the Q1 and Q2 2026 figures remain provisional, without external auditor review, and are subject to change pending final disclosure.

Korea's digital advertising agency market is highly dependent on major platform partners such as Google, Naver, Meta, and Kakao, with agency competitiveness hinging on partnership tiers and operational efficiency.

PlayD has established itself as a leading agency, managing roughly KRW 500 billion in advertising annually since its KOSDAQ listing.

Driven by the spread of generative AI, the industry is seeing new competitive fronts emerge around automated ad-creative production, AI-based operational optimization, and generative engine optimization (GEO), which manages brand visibility within AI search results.

PlayD has moved proactively on this front by establishing a dedicated AI unit and launching a GEO diagnostic service. At the same time, its integration into the SOOP group is opening avenues for synergy with streaming and content-based advertiser pools as well as new channels such as live commerce.

Still, the digital advertising market remains sensitive to advertiser budget cycles and platform policy shifts, and the initial investment costs of new subsidiary businesses have been shown to pressure near-term results, as evidenced in the first half of 2026.

In its first-half 2026 earnings announcement, the company stated it expects profitability to gradually improve in the second half as the subsidiary marketing cost burden concentrated in the first half eases.

CEO Cho Myung-jin said the company would strengthen collaboration with SOOP group affiliates to boost core business growth while accelerating AI-driven advertising operations to expand its advertiser base and create new revenue models.

Indeed, standalone (core-business) operating profit for the first half rose 19% year-on-year to KRW 2.1 billion, indicating that the underlying profitability trend continues to improve.

On the AI new-business front, the company continues to expand the advertiser base for its SpAIder GEO diagnostic service and roll out AI-agent-based workflow automation tools company-wide, with insights from these tools already credited with helping secure at least one new advertiser win.

However, no specific timeline has yet been disclosed for when new subsidiaries such as Bio Essential are expected to reach breakeven on their initial marketing investments.

Going forward, the key watch points are how quickly the subsidiary cost burden eases and how visibly the synergies with the SOOP group translate into actual revenue and profit.