72% of Koreans Use OTT... 2 out of 5 Subscribe Paid Services

KCC Announces Results of the '2022 Broadcast Media Usage Survey'

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Su-yeon] 72% of the population uses Over-The-Top (OTT) video services, nearly catching up to TV usage at 75.5%. The subscription rate for paid OTT services reaches 40% of the total population.

The Korea Communications Commission announced the results of the '2022 Broadcast Media Usage Survey' on the 27th.

This survey was conducted from June to August this year through face-to-face interviews with 6,708 men and women aged 13 and older living in 4,287 households nationwide.

The smartphone ownership rate stands at 93.4%, maintaining a similar level over the past three years (2020: 93.1% → 2021: 93.4% → 2022: 93.4%). By age group, smartphone ownership among those in their 60s increased to 93.8%, showing an expansion of smart device usage among the elderly. Smartwatch ownership also showed steady growth, reaching 8.9% (2020: 2.2% → 2021: 4.7% → 2022: 8.9%).

Trends in Recognition of Essential Media by Year. Graphic by Korea Communications Commission

The proportion of people who perceive smartphones as an essential daily medium is 70.0%, while TV is at 27.5%, similar to the previous year. The perception of desktop/laptop computers, newspapers, and radios as essential media is below 2%.

By age, 10s (94.5%) to 40s (89.2%) show about 90% selecting smartphones as essential media. Among those in their 60s, this rate has steadily increased to 46.6%, indicating the influence of smartphones is spreading to older age groups.

The rate of smartphone use five or more days per week is 90.1%, while TV usage is 75.5%, a slight increase from 73.4% the previous year. TV usage frequency is higher among older age groups, and smartphone usage among those aged 70 and above is 50.7%, about half the usage rate of other age groups.

TV viewing time, including paid broadcasts, which had increased after COVID-19, averaged 2 hours and 36 minutes per day, continuing to decline from the previous year. Radio listening time (based on all respondents) remains stagnant at an average of 10 minutes per day. Smartphone usage was recorded at 1 hour and 52 minutes.

The method of watching broadcast programs is 91.1% for live viewing and 42.6% for OTT/VOD viewing, with OTT/VOD viewing increasing compared to the previous year. Last year, live and OTT/VOD viewing rates were 91.1% and 37.9%, respectively.

OTT usage rate by age group. Graphic by Korea Communications Commission

OTT usage rate increased by 2.5 percentage points from 69.5% last year to 72.0%, nearly catching up to TV usage at 75.5%. By age, the 20s group had the highest OTT usage rate at 95.9%, while the 10s and 30s showed usage rates in the 90% range. From the 40s onward, OTT usage rates decreased with increasing age.

The device most used for OTT is the smartphone (89.1%), although this is a decrease from 92.2% the previous year. TV set usage for OTT is gradually increasing (2020: 8.5% → 2021: 12.4% → 2022: 16.2%).

The main OTT platforms used are YouTube at 66.1%, Netflix at 31.5%, TVING at 7.8%, Wavve at 6.1%, and Coupang Play at 5.2%, all showing upward trends.

OTT usage devices (left), OTT platform usage rates (right) Graphic by Korea Communications Commission

The proportion of users who paid subscription fees or charges is 40.0% of all respondents, up from 34.8% the previous year. Among paid users, Netflix has the highest usage rate at 31.5%, followed by TVING at 7.8% and YouTube at 7.1%.

The TV ownership rate among single-person households is 90.4%, lower than the overall household rate of 95.4%. The gap with overall households is larger among younger age groups. The subscription rate for paid broadcasting services among single-person households is also lower at 85.3%, compared to 92.7% for all households.