[Youth Report] "Money and Time Are Wasted"... Not Watching Live, But the 'Summary Version'

Why 'Binge-Watching' Videos Appear on YouTube
42% of OTT Users Say They Feel Economic Burden

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The number of young people consuming dramas and movies on YouTube rather than online video services (OTT) like Netflix is increasing. Some YouTubers summarize works in videos ranging from 30 minutes to an hour, which viewers watch instead of the original works. As the popularity of these 'summary' videos that condense works grows day by day, some are even canceling their OTT subscriptions.

Watching Live Broadcasts Is a Thing of the Past... Consuming Content 'Short and Intense' on YouTube

[Image source=Pixabay]

Recently, a culture of quickly watching content has been spreading mainly among young people. Accordingly, 'summary' content that allows binge-watching dramas or movies in a short time is popular on YouTube. In fact, if you search YouTube with the title of a work along with 'binge-watch' or 'summary,' related videos appear one after another. Many videos are produced by individual YouTubers, but there are also quite a few videos released by official broadcasting channels.

Being a summary does not mean it is difficult to understand the content. Although some parts are inevitably missed because the work is shown in a condensed form, only the important scenes are highlighted, allowing viewers to focus. In the YouTube video comment sections, most reactions are positive, such as "It feels like I watched the entire original," "Good for saving time," and "Exciting development."

Office worker Park (27) has recently been using YouTube content instead of OTT. Park said, "There are many weeks when I don't even watch one movie, so I canceled OTT services like Netflix and TVING last month," adding, "If I want to watch or am curious about a work, I search on YouTube to check the general story."

He continued, "I don't feel much inconvenience watching works on YouTube," and added, "Especially dramas have many episodes and long airtime, so I didn't watch them often, but YouTube shows only the important parts, so I can focus better."

YouTube Summary Videos Popular for Being Free and Time-Saving

[Image source=Pixabay]

This phenomenon is also related to the tendency of young people to get maximum efficiency in a short time. Young people, who lack time, have a desire to minimize time spent while maximizing satisfaction. Accordingly, young people not only watch YouTube summaries but also adjust playback speed to their liking. To use time efficiently, they watch content at faster speeds such as 1.5x or 2x, or use the 10-second skip forward function.

Some also focus on the fact that YouTube videos are free. As monthly OTT expenses become burdensome in the era of high prices, they vicariously satisfy themselves through YouTube summaries.

In fact, the economic burden felt by OTT users is not insignificant. According to the '2021 Content Usage Trend Study in the Digital Transformation Era' published last year by the Korea Creative Content Agency, 42.5% of OTT users cited 'economic burden' as the most inconvenient aspect of the service. Also, 87.2% of users said they share paid OTT accounts with family or others.

Cultural critic Jung Deok-hyun said, "As the variety and number of content increase, it has become impossible to consume all content," but added, "There is an obsession with watching at least some major content to avoid falling behind trends."

He continued, "As a result, new viewing patterns such as watching videos at 2x speed or watching summary content have emerged," adding, "Summaries have the advantage of allowing viewers to enjoy fast-paced development and reduce subscription fees, but since they are not actual full appreciation, they cannot be considered ideal."