KakaoTalk, the 'National App,' Loses No.1 Spot on YouTube for Two Consecutive Months...

YouTube Ranks 1st in MAU... KakaoTalk Loses Top Spot for the First Time
Naver Performs Relatively Well with Low Churn Rate

As the influence of global big tech companies like Google grows in South Korea, the position of KakaoTalk, known as the "national messenger," is being threatened. At the end of last year, YouTube was found to be the most used mobile application (app) by domestic users.

The mobile big data platform "Mobile Index" announced on the 3rd that YouTube's MAU (Monthly Active Users) in December last year reached 45,645,347 (combined Android and iOS), ranking first in the number of app users in South Korea. This figure exceeds KakaoTalk's 45,540,367 by about 100,000 users.

This is the first time KakaoTalk has lost its top spot in domestic app usage rankings since it first reached number one. In January this year, YouTube (45,473,733 users) maintained its first place, surpassing KakaoTalk for two consecutive months. Moreover, the gap with KakaoTalk (45,249,744 users) widened to 220,000 users.

Already, YouTube Music has overtaken Kakao Entertainment's music streaming platform Melon in the domestic market, ranking first. In December last year, YouTube Music's MAU was 7,402,505, surpassing Kakao Entertainment's Melon (7,285,813) for the first time to claim the top spot among domestic music platforms.

[Image source=Pixabay]

YouTube has been offering YouTube Music free of charge to "YouTube Premium" subscribers since September 2020. It is also analyzed that the number of users has steadily increased by strengthening various services such as "Shorts," which focuses on short-form videos.

On the other hand, Naver is reported to be holding up relatively well. According to the "Big Tech Platform Trend Report" released on the 23rd of last month by the big data platform "IGAWorks Marketing Cloud," Naver maintained the number one position (86.4%) in internet and browser app user share from July to December last year.

As of December last year, Naver (86.38%) leads in market share, followed by Chrome (70.37%), Google (61.81%), and Daum (16.64%).

The Naver app recorded a churn rate of 11.0% in the second half of last year, which is the lowest compared to other platforms. During the same period, Chrome's churn rate was 14.2%, Daum's was 15.5%, and Google's was 22.8%.

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