7 out of 10 Koreans Watch Internet Videos Daily... 60.2% of People in Their 60s

2019 Internet Usage Survey

[Asia Economy Reporter Joeslgina] More than 7 out of 10 Koreans watch videos daily via the internet, indicating that video services have become an integral part of people's daily lives. The usage rate among people in their 20s, who are familiar with advanced devices, was 93.2%, and even those in their 60s exceeded 60%. Additionally, 6 to 7 out of 10 people were found to use online shopping.

According to the '2019 Internet Usage Survey' released by the Ministry of Science and ICT on the 26th, the national internet usage rate was 91.8%, up 0.3 percentage points from the previous year. By age group, those in their 30s had a 100% usage rate, followed by teenagers and people in their 20s (each 99.9%), 40s (99.8%), and 50s (99.3%). The usage rate among children aged 3 to 9 was also 91.2%, and those in their 60s reached 89.1%.

By gender, the increase in usage among women (0.5 percentage points) outpaced that of men, narrowing the gender usage gap from 6.5 percentage points in 2015 to 4.3 percentage points. Internet usage rate refers to the proportion of people aged 3 and above who have used the internet at least once in the past month.

Koreans use the internet for an average of 17.4 hours per week, with the majority (93.9%) accessing it at least once a day. Compared to the survey a year ago, the average weekly usage time increased by 0.9 hours. The main purposes of use were communication for social interaction (95.4%), information gathering (94%), and leisure activities such as games and movies (94%).

The household internet connection rate was 99.7% (up 0.2 percentage points), indicating that almost all households have internet access. Among connected households, wireless methods such as Wi-Fi (100%) and mobile internet (99.9%) accounted for the majority. A Ministry of Science and ICT official stated, "5G users were surveyed at 6.2% in the first year of commercialization," adding, "As the distribution speed of devices accelerates, usage rates are expected to increase explosively in the future."

The Ministry of Science and ICT considered the rapid integration of one-person media, video services, and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and services into daily life, and for the first time in this survey, investigated usage patterns of new services such as video, AI, and 5G, analyzing changes in people's lives due to technological advancements.

First, video services have become a service that people use routinely. 81.2% of the population used video services, with 73.7% using them daily. By generation, people in their 20s had the highest usage rate at 93.2%, followed by those in their 30s (89.5%), teens (88.5%), 40s (85.2%), children aged 3 to 9 (79.8%), and 50s (77.7%). Usage rates among those in their 60s and 70s were also 60.2% and 47.1%, respectively, indicating widespread use across all age groups.

Notably, information searching through videos (37.7%) ranked second after portals (84.4%), reflecting recent societal trends, and children aged 3 to 9 were evaluated to use videos as a major tool for information searching (58.9%).

AI voice recognition services, still in the early stages of adoption, showed a meaningful usage rate of 25.2%. Active use was confirmed mainly among ▲people in their 20s (42.3%), ▲30s (38.9%), and ▲professionals and managers (53.6%). The Ministry of Science and ICT expects that these services will be primarily used for news and music listening, weather and traffic information, and schedule management services, with usage rates increasing.

The internet shopping usage rate was 64.1%. In terms of scale, internet shopping has continued to grow annually, from 97,000 KRW in 2018 to 114,000 KRW in 2019, establishing itself as an essential daily service. Purchases mainly included daily necessities such as ▲clothing and shoes (87.8%) and ▲groceries (housewives, 49.7%).

Additionally, O2O (Online to Offline) service usage is expanding, especially among single-person households, reaching 30.4%. Internet banking usage (64.9%) has increased significantly, and simple remittance services combined with messengers (32.3%), mainly among people in their 20s (44.7%), are becoming mainstream, the Ministry added.

By generation, internet usage among children and those aged 50 and above has increased, significantly narrowing the usage gap, while differences in services used by age group were observed. ▲People in their teens and 20s mainly use new technology services (video, AI), ▲those in their 30s and 40s primarily use economic activity-related services (internet banking and shopping), and ▲those aged 50 and above mainly use communication services such as messengers.

Park Yoon-gyu, Director of Information and Communication Policy, stated, “With the recent spread of AI-based convergence technologies and services, intelligent information technologies such as artificial intelligence and 5G are rapidly permeating people's lives. In particular, the proportion of video services is overwhelmingly increasing, significantly changing how people live through the internet.” He added, “We will use the survey results to help promote policies that provide practical benefits to people's lives.”