South Korea Addicted to YouTube... Watching Twice as Much as KakaoTalk

KakaoTalk and Naver Double
YouTube's Solo Dominance Accelerates
Advertising Revenue Surges Every Quarter

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] It has been found that domestic users' YouTube usage time exceeds that of Naver and Kakao by more than double. The 'concentration' and 'dominance' of YouTube are intensifying.

According to app analysis firm WiseApp's data on the 22nd, during the month of September, 33.77 million Koreans used the YouTube app, with a total usage time reaching 53.1 billion minutes.

In September of last year, 33.34 million Koreans used the YouTube app for a total of 44.3 billion minutes. Usage time increased by 20% compared to last year. WiseApp stated, "Due to the impact of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), most of the top major app services saw an increase in usage time compared to last year."

As YouTube dominates the global platform market, the 'YouTube advertising market' is also growing astronomically. According to Alphabet's quarterly report for the third quarter of this year, YouTube advertising revenue was approximately $5.04 billion (about 5.63 trillion KRW), an 8% increase compared to the same period last year.

Meanwhile, the apps Koreans used the longest after YouTube were KakaoTalk, Naver, Daum, Instagram, Facebook, Naver Webtoon, KakaoPage, TikTok, and Netflix, in that order. In terms of usage time growth rate compared to last year, Netflix (159%), TikTok (150%), Instagram (35%), and YouTube (20%) showed the highest increases.

In particular, KakaoTalk and Naver, which ranked second and third after YouTube, saw increased usage time but were about half that of YouTube. KakaoTalk usage time was 22.5 billion minutes (as of September), and Naver was recorded at 17.2 billion minutes.

YouTube concentration has accelerated further in the COVID-19 era this year. According to the '2020 Internet User Survey' conducted by Nasmedia, KT Group's digital media rep, in April, 9 out of 10 domestic online video viewers use YouTube. The response rate for using YouTube when watching online videos was 93.7%, securing a dominant first place. Naver recorded 43.1%, Netflix 28.6%, Instagram 26.4%, and Facebook 24.1%.