"Even with a Job, My Mind Feels Anxious"…MZ Searching for Effective Solutions [Cheongchun Report]

Fortune-telling and Tarot Videos Flood YouTube
Online Lectures on Divination Market Also Growing

Yoo (28), a second-year office worker, checks his "daily fortune" every morning on a fortune-telling application installed on his smartphone during his commute. Yoo said, "I don't believe in saju 100%, but when a good fortune comes up, it just makes me feel good. It helps me start the day on a positive note." He added, "Even if a bad fortune appears, I take it with a grain of salt, so it doesn't hit me hard." He continued, "These days, as the company's situation worsens, I feel anxious even when I go to work," adding, "Because these anxious days continue, I think I refer to fortunes more often."

Recently, the number of young people using fortune-telling services such as saju and tarot has been increasing. Especially, young people familiar with online platforms are engaging in non-face-to-face fortune-telling through apps, YouTube, and phone calls. Some young people are going beyond just using fortune-telling services and are actively studying saju myeongrihak (saju studies) and tarot.

MZ Generation Consulting Saju for an Uncertain Future

[Image source=Pixabay]

Recently, videos dealing with fortune-telling and tarot have been continuously uploaded on YouTube. According to the YouTube statistics site 'Playboard,' searching for "tarot" yields 1,339 channels. Searching for "fortune" and "saju" returns 1,802 and 472 channels, respectively. The fortune-telling fee is replaced by viewers' "subscribe" and "like" buttons. Popular channels have long had hundreds of thousands of subscribers. The tarot card YouTube channel "Horang Tarot" has 410,000 subscribers, and the "Tarot Myomyo" channel also has over 240,000 subscribers.

Non-face-to-face services that offer consultations via phone or chat are also popular. These services are not limited by time or place and are generally cheaper than offline fortune-telling shops. The cost of non-face-to-face fortune consultations varies by provider, but typically chat consultations cost around 10,000 KRW, voice consultations around 20,000 KRW, and video consultations around 30,000 KRW.

Jung (28), who had a New Year's phone saju reading last month, said, "I think I look at saju when I feel anxious or worried to get comfort or advice." He added, "I really wanted to change jobs this year, so I had a phone saju reading, and it was good because it gave me direction on the issues I was concerned about." He continued, "When I had saju readings offline, I often forgot the interpretations afterward, but with phone saju, I could record the call, which was great."

The most popular category on Naver's expert consultation service "Xpert" is also fortune-telling and saju. Fortune-telling and saju have held the top spot in popularity for about three years from 2020 to 2022. Tarot ranks second. Notably, among Xpert users, the MZ generation (Millennials + Generation Z) accounts for 80%, indicating a high level of interest in fortune-telling among young people. In other words, people in their 20s and 30s seek fortune-telling and saju to alleviate anxiety about the future.

MZ Generation Studying Myeongrihak and Tarot

[Image source=Pixabay]

Some young people are showing a more proactive attitude by studying myeongrihak (saju studies) beyond just getting saju readings. Myeongrihak is a discipline that analyzes the interactions of yin-yang and the five elements to predict the fortunes and misfortunes in our lives.

Yes24 reported that the number of saju-related books published surged from 100 titles in 2022 to 154 titles by October 2023. Especially, compared to five years ago in 2018, the purchase share of people in their 20s and 30s increased by 4.1 percentage points in 2023. Among these, the book "Starting Saju Myeongri Study Alone," which ranked third in the saju and myeongri category bestseller list last year, had a 31.1% purchase rate among people in their 20s and 30s, indicating a relatively high proportion of young buyers.

The market for non-face-to-face online lectures related to fortune-telling such as saju, tarot, and physiognomy is also rapidly growing. On the online education platform "Class 101," targeting the MZ generation, keywords like "business saju" and "tarot" rank high in search popularity, reflecting their strong appeal.