Chzzk starter guide — Naver Live onboarding, streaming setup, Partner program

Why Chzzk

Naver launched Chzzk right after Twitch shut down its Korean service in 2024, and within about a year it absorbed a significant share of Korean gaming and VTuber viewers. As of 2026, peak weekday-evening concurrent viewership is roughly on par with SOOP.

Strengths: Naver Pay-backed donations (no separate payment registration needed), Twitch-compatible OBS workflow, cross-traffic from Naver Search / blogs / cafes. Weakness: almost no global audience — treat it as a Korea-only platform.

Step 1: Live eligibility

Chzzk has a low barrier to entry.

• Naver account + phone-based identity verification
• Open a channel in Chzzk Studio and go live immediately
• No subscriber / follower threshold — you can broadcast from day one
• Monetization (accepting donations) activates as soon as channel verification is complete

It's the fastest platform to get on air compared to Twitch or YouTube.

Step 2: OBS setup

Chzzk Studio → Broadcast settings → Issue stream key. OBS → Settings → Stream → Service Custom → rtmp://rtmp.chzzk.naver.com/live + the issued key.

Video: 1920×1080 / 60fps, bitrate 6,000 kbps for 1080p30 or 8,000 kbps for 1080p60. Encoder: NVENC HEVC (supported on RTX 40 series) or x264 veryfast.

See also the dedicated Chzzk OBS setup guide.

Step 3: Donation and ad monetization

Donations (Cheese): viewers donate in units of 1 Cheese = 100 KRW. Host take-home is roughly 70% (after VAT and platform fees). Similar structure to Twitch Bits but withdrawal is faster — usually 1–3 business days.

Ad revenue: when channel awareness and average concurrent viewership reach a threshold, Naver ad matching activates automatically. Per-1,000-impression rates for Korean viewers average 1,000–3,000 KRW.

Subscriptions: as of 2026 this is still in beta. Channels with a sufficient monthly subscriber pool are onboarded in waves.

Step 4: The Partner program

Chzzk's Partner status is invite-only. Average concurrent viewership of 100+ together with sustained broadcasting days puts you on the review list automatically. Partner perks include lower donation fees, priority ad matching, a dedicated manager, and weighting in category recommendations.

Step 5: Category choice and your first viewers

Chzzk discovery depends heavily on category exposure. If your first stream is in a popular game category (League of Legends, Valorant, Overwatch), there are too many concurrent streamers and you get buried. Smaller categories (indie games, board games, talk) make it easy to land on the category's first page. If you have a defined concept, start small to accumulate average viewership, then move to a larger category — that's the standard playbook.