Are You Someone Who Watches a Lot of KakaoTalk and YouTube Ads? What's Your Age...?

Research Results on KakaoTalk, Instagram, and YouTube Ads
Age Influences Ad Exposure, Gender Affects Purchases

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seung-woo] A study has found that the older the age, the more social media advertisements are clicked, and the higher the probability of actual product purchase. It also revealed that women have a higher product purchase rate than men after being exposed to advertisements.

On the 18th, a research team from the Department of Media Studies at Korea University (Son Sein, Choi Se-jung) published a research report titled “Social Media Advertising Response According to Personal Characteristics and Usage Motivation: Second Analysis of Social Media User Survey” in the Journal of the Korea Contents Association, supported by the Ministry of Education and the National Research Foundation of Korea.

The report analyzed the advertising effects of KakaoTalk, Instagram, and YouTube, which are social media platforms with high domestic usage rates. It was based on the results of the “2021 Social Media User Survey” conducted by the Korea Press Foundation targeting 3,000 adults aged 19 to 69.

The study found that on KakaoTalk, the probability of clicking advertisements increased with age. It was found that with each one-year increase in age, the experience of clicking KakaoTalk advertisements increased by 1.12 times.

Additionally, if the number of social media platforms used increased by one, the experience of clicking advertisements increased by 1.06 times, and if the perceived relevance between one’s interests and advertisements increased by one level, it increased by 1.97 times.

KakaoTalk Shopping. [Image source=Yonhap News]

In the case of YouTube, the probability of purchasing a product increased by 1.1 times with each one-year increase in age. Also, compared to groups with low social media usage frequency, groups with high usage frequency had a 1.69 times higher probability, and the probability increased by 1.1 times with each additional social media platform used.

The research team stated, “Considering that social media research has so far been conducted targeting younger age groups, this study provides new implications.” They added, “We were also able to reconfirm the effectiveness of personalized advertising that exposes ads tailored to individual interests.”

If the age variable affects advertisement exposure, the gender variable was found to have a stronger effect on product purchase after advertisement exposure. Women who saw KakaoTalk advertisements were 1.42 times more likely to purchase products than men. In the case of Instagram, women clicked 1.64 times more and had a 1.412 times higher product purchase rate after advertisement exposure.

The research team analyzed, “Both gender variables had significant effects on advertisement clicks and product purchases after advertisement exposure,” meaning “advertisement clicks and product purchases after advertisement exposure occur more frequently among women than men.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.