Daum has officially announced that, starting December 10, its live-broadcast feature will move out of the mobile news tab and become a separate "Live" tab.
The redesign expands live programming beyond news to include entertainment and sports, improving user access.
The change comes as Daum’s service operations shift from Kakao to AXZ, making this part of a broader platform reorganization.
Overall, the move reads as an attempt to strengthen real-time interaction and redefine how users experience content.
Daum’s Live Tab Split: A Fresh Start
Overview
This is about restoring live interaction.
Daum said it will separate the live feature from the mobile news tab and launch it as an independent "Live" menu on December 10.
Unlike the previous news-centric lineup, the new tab will highlight live events in entertainment and sports and emphasize fan-facing formats.
Meanwhile, the handover of service operations from Kakao to AXZ and a sharp drop in search share provide the context for this decision.
Historical context
The move revives a long-running story.
Daum was once known as a civic portal with active user discussion during the Agora era, but its search share has fallen sharply in recent years.
This decline hit platform identity and user trust, and it helped trigger the staged transfer of services from Kakao to AXZ and related structural changes this year.
In that light, the Live tab split can be read as a strategic attempt to reorganize services and recover users by strengthening communication.
"Separating the Live tab will enhance users' content experience," a company representative said.
Why now?
The timing is clear.
The combination of falling search share and a weakened platform identity creates urgency for change.
At the same time, demand for entertainment and sports live streams has grown on mobile, which made the timing opportune.
From a corporate perspective, AXZ needed an aggressive improvement in user experience after the transfer to rebuild its brand and win back users.
Arguments in favor
This is a chance to regain momentum.
Splitting the Live tab improves content access and discoverability.
By foregrounding popular categories like entertainment and sports, the platform can increase time spent and activate fandom communities.
Meanwhile, broadcasters, studios, and independent creators gain a real-time distribution channel, diversifying content pathways.
In entertainment, event-driven content such as premieres, fan meetings, and award shows has high engagement value.
Fans value immediacy and participation, and live experiences often drive replays and viral sharing.
In sports, compiling live feeds, postgame interviews, and press conferences in one place better meets user needs.
These changes can open layered revenue models—ads, sponsorships, and premium offerings—making business sense.
From a product perspective, separating the service helps optimize UI and recommendation engines.
A dedicated tab allows finer segmentation of user behavior data and improves personalization accuracy, which in turn raises satisfaction.
With better data about entertainment and sports fans, ad targeting becomes more efficient.
That process can signal attractiveness to investors and support business expansion.
Finally, the redesign aligns with broader public expectations for healthier online communication.
Although past measures—like pausing comments on celebrity articles—had mixed results, appropriate policies and technical fixes can create better interaction structures.
Tools like AI moderation bots and time-limited comment windows (short allowed periods) can reduce harassment and defamation risks.
Therefore, the Live tab has real potential to boost both user experience and platform sustainability.
Arguments against
Concerns are realistic.
Expanding live streams increases participation but also raises the risk of abusive comments and defamation.
Past cases where comments were suspended on celebrity stories remind us that more communication is not always better.
Live events combine spontaneity with strong emotional reactions, which can escalate into conflict and legal disputes.
Live gives freedom, but it also demands regulation and accountability.
If technical safeguards fall short, expansion could undermine user trust.
AI moderation faces hard problems: biased training data, false positives and negatives, and limited ability to read context.
Moreover, policy tools like time limits can be misused and may chill expression or worsen the user experience if applied poorly.
In those scenarios, the platform needs skilled operations teams to classify sensitive content and respond properly.
Commercial pressure is another issue.
As entertainment and sports gain commercial value, platforms may push biased recommendations, excessive ads, or paywalls, which could frustrate users.
Competition among creators could intensify, producing copyright disputes, exclusive deals, and marginalization of small producers.
In business terms, chasing short-term revenue risks eroding a long-term user base.
Finally, structural limits matter.
Fixing a falling search share requires more than UI tweaks; it calls for rebuilding institutional trust and broader ecosystem reform.
The Live tab can be a catalyst, but by itself it may not reverse user attrition.
Therefore, cautious governance and transparent operations must accompany the launch.
Operations and safeguards
Responses require a mix of tech and policy.
Daum plans AI-based content filtering and time-limit features to reduce abusive behavior before it occurs.
However, technology alone is not enough: human moderation and clear reporting and enforcement procedures are also necessary.
User education and clearer community guidelines must run in parallel.
The platform should publish enforcement criteria for policy breaches and apply stronger measures to repeat offenders to ensure accountability.
Transparent data disclosures and cooperation with external watchdogs are also worth considering.
Market and competition
The move will shake up competition.
Boundaries between portals, social platforms, and specialized streaming services may be redrawn around live content.
In entertainment and sports, partnerships with broadcasters, fights over broadcast rights, and expansions driven by fan communities will be key variables.
In the market, convenience, trust, and content quality decide winners and losers.
Daum’s decision could accelerate market realignment.
Users will gain more choices, but they will also judge services more strictly on quality and trustworthiness.
Ultimately, long-term success will go to platforms that balance technology, content, and governance.
Examples and scenarios
Real-world examples vary.
Some domestic and international platforms have successfully extended live features and monetized fandom while improving the user experience.
On the other hand, cases with abusive comments and copyright fights show the need for retroactive policy fixes.
There are multiple possible outcomes for Daum.
In a positive scenario, the Live tab sparks user recovery and generates ad and ancillary revenues around entertainment and sports.
In a negative one, operational weaknesses and regulatory gaps deepen trust problems and raise legal and social costs.
Conclusion
The key is balance.
Splitting the Live tab offers both improved user experience and business opportunity, but it also brings costs in safety and trust.
Therefore, technical safeguards, sufficient moderation staff, clear community rules, and transparent governance must accompany the launch for it to succeed.
In short, this update is a strategic experiment aimed at restoring real-time communication.
At the same time, it will be a careful tightrope walk between commercial incentives and operational risk.
Finally, we ask the reader: how do you judge Daum’s Live tab expansion?
The images are placed separately from the main flow for context.
Daum’s change goes beyond a simple UI tweak; it aims to reframe platform identity and user relations.
