"After Studying YouTube, Direct Investment via MTS"... Beginner Investor Analysis Report Released

Innocean Big Data Analysis Report Presentation

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] An analysis report titled ‘Y.O.U.N.G. Tech’ has been published, highlighting the investment trends of the MZ generation (Millennials + Generation Z) in the era of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19). Each of the five letters in Y stands for YouTube, O for Ordinary (daily life), U for Unique, N for Network, and G for Gamification.

‘Financial Technology’ Portal Search Volume Increased by 47% This Year

Innocean Worldwide released a big data analysis report on the 27th titled ‘Y.O.U.N.G. Tech Trends of the MZ Generation in the COVID-19 Era’, containing these insights. The report is based on an analysis by the Data Command Center (DCC), a dedicated big data analysis team within Innocean, which examined approximately 400,000 online data entries related to financial technology produced from September 2019 to August 2020 across major blogs, cafes, and social networking services (SNS).

According to the DCC, during this period, online mentions and portal search volumes related to financial technology increased by 11% and 47%, respectively, compared to the previous year. The DCC categorized the data into three themes: financial technology investors, investment targets, and investment information, to analyze ‘who is investing, in what, and how.’

Based on this, Innocean derived the keyword Y.O.U.N.G. An Innocean official explained, “They study through YouTube content and engage with investment products ranging from everyday items like stocks and real estate to unique products tailored to individual standards. They share quality information through open chat networks and invest directly in a relaxed and convenient way, enjoying it like a game.”

Increase in Searches for 2030, Stocks, and YouTube

Age group analysis shows that the investor category has expanded to the general public. Related terms such as beginners (17,081 cases), young workers (9,919 cases), and newlyweds (9,158 cases) stand out. This differs from the previous perception that investment was the domain of experts like financial planners, licensed brokers, and fund managers. An Innocean official stated, “The 2030 generation, once called the YOLO generation, and the N-po generation have voluntarily started investing, and the MZ generation, who seek direct experience, have actively entered the market, making young individual investors the central axis of financial technology.”

In 2020, the keyword for financial technology investment targets was still dominated by stocks (92,372 cases), with real estate (35,473 cases) and online shopping malls (9,543 cases) increasing compared to the previous year, while insurance (44,513 cases), savings (42,383 cases), funds (23,009 cases), and installment savings (20,752 cases) saw significant declines.

Thanks to Easier and More Convenient Investment Environments

The high mention volumes of stocks and real estate are supported by the growth of non-face-to-face trading channels such as Mobile Trading Systems (MTS), which led to a surge in first-time stock investors, and changes in the real estate industry utilizing proptech technology. Additionally, online shopping mall startups, which have emerged as side jobs for office workers, the resell boom where scarce products are sold at high prices, and innovative intangible financial technologies like individuals owning and trading parts of music copyrights are expanding investment targets based on digital platforms.

The reason beginner investors can invest directly is due to the activation of financial technology investment information sharing. Unlike the past, when information asymmetry led to reliance on experts or specialized institutions, now quality information can be acquired through collective intelligence channels such as YouTube (5,410 cases) and open chat (4,737 cases). Moreover, app-based MTS provides intuitive functions and designs that allow users to enjoy stock investment like a game, rapidly attracting the MZ generation. Emotional keywords related to financial technology have also increased, including new concept (6,582 cases), easy (7,831 cases), fast (5,776 cases), and convenient (851 cases).