With the new popularity of ‘snack culture’, a trend in which people enjoy light content in a short amount of time, the portal industry is taking measures to boost related services. (Image : Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec.14 (Korea Bizwire) – With the new popularity of ‘snack culture’, a trend in which people enjoy light content in a short amount of time, the portal industry is taking measures to boost related services.
From webtoons to sports and videos, various forms of content are growing through two large platforms, portal and mobile.
According to industry watchers, ‘snack culture’ started to grow in 2013, and has continued to spread this year.
The new content consumption pattern is prominent among members of the young generation, who are familiar with smart devices.
A survey conducted with the participation of 918 individuals in their 20s by Daehak Neil’s ‘20s Research Center’ and the KT Economy and Management research center indicates that less than 50 percent of online content is ‘consumed’ in its entirety. Only 46 percent of the respondents finished watching videos, while 46 percent scrolled to the bottom of a picture or illustration, 42.4 percent read the whole text, 42.4 percent viewed images and gifs to the end, and 24.8 percent read infographics to the end.
Respondents also answered that 43.1 seconds was an appropriate time for videos, 14.4 paragraphs (30 lines) for text, 17 pictures or illustrations, 10 images or gifs and 9.3 pages of infographics, highlighting the reality of short attention spans.
To meet users’ viewing habits, portal sites are launching various snack culture contents.
Gong View is a new service from Daum Webtoon, run by Kakao. It is a short webtoon that can be seen during recess. Instead of having a long narrative structure like traditional webtoons, the stories are simple, and are suitable for viewing during a commute or on short breaks.
Daum Gong View. With the new popularity of ‘snack culture’, a trend in which people enjoy light content in a short amount of time, the portal industry is taking measures to boost related services. (Image : Yonhap)
Gong View started service with 10 pieces in November. The accumulated number of views reached 5 million over 15 days, reflecting its positive reception from users.
‘3 Minute Baseball’ and ‘3 Minute Soccer’ provided by Daum Sports are also popular among baseball and soccer fans who miss watching games live. The service provides game highlights, related articles and interviews with the players all within three minutes. The service will is expected to be expanded to other sports.
As Naver Webtoon has established itself as the most popular snack culture content provider, with 7.5 million visitors and an accumulated 62 billion views, the company is now turning its efforts to video production.
A total of 47 web dramas were launched on Naver TV this year, and some of the releases Naver Webtoonhave accumulated over 10 million views.
The average number of views among the web dramas that are currently airing is 150,000, and more than 46 percent of the pieces have more than 100,000 views.
‘Shin Seoyugi’, which was the first web variety show launched this year, was played 52 million times in total. (Image : Yonhap)
‘Shin Seoyugi’, which was the first web variety show launched this year, was played 52 million times in total.
Only 46 percent of the respondents finished watching videos, while 46 percent scrolled to the bottom of a picture or illustration, 42.4 percent read the whole text, 42.4 percent viewed images and gifs to the end, and 24.8 percent read infographics to the end. (Image : Yonhap)
The beta version of ‘It Pick’, a service launched by SK Communications, is also targeting snack culture users.
The movement of portal sites to provide snack culture content is expected to continue. Naver will be investing 10 billion won over the next three years to develop original web content.
Industry watchers say that the popularity of snack culture is natural in a ‘mobile only era’. They expect that a wider variety of short, compact content will catch the eyes of users.
By Francine Jung (francine.jung@kobizmedia.co.kr)
