Online Advertising Up 8% in 2024, Broadcast Advertising Down 5%?A Tale of Two Trends

Survey of Domestic Broadcasting and Telecommunications Advertising Expenditures in 2024

As of 2024, online advertising expenditures increased by 7.9% compared to the previous year, while broadcast advertising expenditures decreased by 5%.

On January 8, the Broadcasting and Media Communications Committee and the Korea Broadcast Advertising Corporation announced the results of their report on the status and outlook of the domestic broadcasting and telecommunications advertising market for 2024. The report examined the current state and outlook of advertising expenditures by media and advertising type, as well as the status of advertising professionals, based on data from domestic advertising media companies.

First, in 2024, domestic broadcasting and telecommunications advertising expenditures amounted to 17.1263 trillion won, which is 0.75% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP), representing a 3.5% increase from the previous year. Last year, the total was estimated to be around 17.2717 trillion won.

By media in 2024, broadcast advertising expenditures reached 3.2191 trillion won, accounting for 18.8% of the total. Online advertising expenditures amounted to 10.1011 trillion won, or 59%. Newspaper and magazine advertising was 1.9875 trillion won, making up 11.6%, and outdoor advertising was 1.2591 trillion won, accounting for 7.4%.

Among these, broadcast advertising expenditures decreased by 5% compared to the previous year. Specifically, advertising expenditures for all broadcasting operators except for System Operators (SO) declined. SO expenditures increased by 3.8%, but terrestrial broadcasters saw a 7.2% decrease. Program Providers (PP) and IPTV expenditures decreased by 3.8% and 12.3%, respectively.

In contrast, online advertising expenditures increased by 7.9% compared to the previous year. By media, mobile advertising expenditures rose by 6.9% to 7.7899 trillion won, and PC advertising expenditures increased by 11.3% to 2.3112 trillion won. In 2025, online advertising expenditures are projected to increase by 6.1% from the previous year, reaching 10.7204 trillion won.

In 2024, newspaper advertising expenditures decreased by 2% from the previous year to 1.6893 trillion won, and magazine advertising expenditures decreased by 1.3% to 298.2 billion won. For outdoor media, non-digital formats increased by 2.4% to 733.6 billion won, and digital signage increased by 4.2% to 522.5 billion won.

This year, a survey on perceptions of online video service (OTT) advertising was also conducted. The results showed that the main factors for advertisers choosing OTT advertising were 'accuracy of target reach (53.4%)', 'media power (15.5%)', and 'brand and content suitability (10.3%)', in that order.

Half of the companies that placed OTT advertisements did so on both Netflix and Tving (including duplicates), and among advertisers planning OTT advertising in 2026, 65% preferred Netflix. More details can be found on the websites of the Broadcasting and Media Communications Committee and the Broadcast and Telecommunications Advertising Statistics System.