Dopamine-Boosting 'Shorts', How Many Koreans Watch Them?

Three Out of Five Koreans Watch YouTube for Over Two Hours a Day
IGAWorks Mobile Index Survey Reveals Growing YouTube Usage

Three out of five Koreans watch YouTube for more than 2 hours on average per day. The love for YouTube among Koreans is gradually increasing.

According to data from IGAWorks Mobile Index on the 2nd, as of the 25th of last month, the total usage time of the YouTube app in Korea was 69,656,607 hours, the longest among all apps. YouTube's daily active users (DAU) were 29,988,308, with an average usage time per person of 139.37 minutes.

YouTube logo. YouTube capture

The majority of Koreans consumed YouTube content, including YouTube’s short-form ‘Shorts’.

In February, there were only four days when the average usage time per person on YouTube was below 140 minutes, including the 25th, the 3rd (139.18 minutes), the 7th (139.2 minutes), and the 21st (139.43 minutes). On Sundays such as the 2nd (153.13 minutes), 9th (153.17 minutes), 16th (151.15 minutes), and 23rd (152.12 minutes), the average usage time exceeded 150 minutes every time.

(This photo is not directly related to the article.) Pixabay

The usage time of Koreans on YouTube is on the rise, doubling in about five years from an average daily usage time of 59 minutes per person in 2020. Instagram shows a similar trend due to the popularity of the short-form video 'Reels' platform. As of the 25th of last month, Instagram’s DAU was 13,403,858, with an average usage time per person of 50.58 minutes.

While overseas platforms continue to be popular, the time users spend on native apps like Naver and KakaoTalk was relatively short. On the same day, KakaoTalk’s DAU was 37,164,806, with an average usage time of 30.12 minutes.

Naver and Kakao are making efforts to increase user dwell time. Last August, Naver launched a short video service called ‘Clip.’ They are focusing on growing short-form content by actively recruiting creators.

Kakao recently added a ‘School’ tab to KakaoTalk Open Chat. It started a pilot operation targeting 30 universities, including Seoul National University and Korea University. Kakao plans to introduce a ‘Discovery’ section within KakaoTalk by the end of the year to allow users to enjoy various content through KakaoTalk.

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