KB Kookmin Card: Generative AI Subscription Customers Surge 413% in Two Years

Subscriptions Led by Customers in Their 20s and 30s... From "One-Off Trials" to "Recurring Subscriptions"

KB Kookmin Card announced on the 8th that, over the past two years, the number of customers subscribing to generative artificial intelligence (AI) services and paying with its cards increased by 413%, while the total spending amount rose by 516%.

KB Kookmin Card released the results of its analysis of payment data for 14 types of generative AI subscription services, including text and image services, based on transactions made with its own credit and debit cards by 348,000 customers between 2024 and 2025.

The analysis showed that the number of paying users of generative AI subscription services continued to grow over the two-year period, with the pace of growth accelerating in the second quarter of last year.

In particular, the number of customers using text-based generative AI services increased by 491%, and their total spending rose by 609%, leading the overall growth of the generative AI subscription market.

AI services for images, video, and other media also saw growth over the same period, with the number of users up 93% and total spending up 178%. This indicates that the number of paying subscribers to non-text-based generative AI services also increased.

The proportion of customers who subscribed to two or more generative AI products within a year rose by 1.6 percentage points, from 4.9% in 2024 to 6.5% last year. This means that the share of customers paying for generative AI services has grown.

Use of text-based generative AI subscription services is spreading rapidly among customers in their 20s and 30s.

Looking at the age distribution of text-based generative AI subscribers as of last year, those in their 20s accounted for the largest share at 37%. They were followed by those in their 30s at 32%, 40s at 18%, 50s at 10%, and those aged 60 or older at 3%.

Text-based generative AI subscription services are no longer just a one-off trial experience but are increasingly leading to long-term use.

As of last year, 60% of paying customers maintained recurring payments for at least four months; 39% had long-term subscriptions of seven months or more, and 21% had subscribed for 10 months or longer. In particular, one out of five customers had been on a long-term subscription for at least 10 months.

A KB Kookmin Card official said, "We were able to confirm that generative AI services are rapidly establishing themselves as subscription services that are closely integrated into customers' daily lives and work," adding, "We plan to continue monitoring changing digital consumption trends and customer demand driven by the application of AI."