AfreecaTV streamers reaped donations of worth 41 billion won ($37.6 million) in December, with the highest-earner recording 452 million won, equivalent to an hourly wage of 1.7 million won.

According to Poong Today Sunday, which tracks donations made on the country’s most popular online streaming platform, viewers donated more than 380.5 million “star balloons” in total last month.

On AfreecaTV, fans can send streamers bundles of star balloons, a digital currency that costs users 110 won apiece. Streamers can exchange them for actual money with AfreecaTV taking a commission of up to 40 percent.

A male streamer known as Seya ranked No.1, receiving 4.5 million star balloons in December, followed by female streamers Fall and Sally, who earned 4 million and 3.3 million star balloons in the same month. Of the top 10 streamers, eight were female, whose content is mostly talk shows and exotic dancing performances.

The top spender donated 5.8 million star balloons over the month, almost three times more than the 2 million star balloons donated by the user who ranked second.

AfreecaTV posted revenues and operating profits of 50.2 billion won and 13.9 billion won in the third quarter, a 12 percent and 29 percent growth on-year, respectively.

By Kim Byung-wook (kbw@heraldcorp.com)