Amid the growth, the view that if global media giants such as Apple and Disney enter the local OTT market the future of South Korean companies will become even more uncertain is gaining momentum. (image: Pixabay)
SEOUL, Aug. 5 (Korea Bizwire) — South Koreans spend more than 80 percent of their total mobile video usage time on foreign video platforms such as YouTube and Netflix.
According to an analysis by Lee Hee-dae, a professor at Kwangwoon University, based on Nielsen Koreanclick’s survey, YouTube accounted for overwhelming 59.5 percent of total user hours.
The remaining 23 apps were divided into less than 10 percent each.
In particular, the size of the over-the-top (OTT) market in South Korea is growing rapidly with global growth, raising concerns about the position of local video service providers.
“Korean people already consume more than 80 percent of the videos they watch on their smartphones through global apps, not through Korea”, Lee explained.
The size of South Korea’s OTT market is expected to increase to 634.5 billion won (US$522 million) this year and 780.1 billion won in 2020, after hitting 513.6 billion won last year.
Amid the growth, the view that if global media giants such as Apple and Disney enter the local OTT market the future of South Korean companies will become even more uncertain is gaining momentum.
“Because of the nature of the OTT market, where quality advantages in content determine consumer choices, the possibility of local brands winning through head-to-head competition with global media giants does not seem to be that great,” said Lee.
“The strategy of domestic businesses to seek alliances with foreign companies first, to jointly target the Asian market through K-content through partnership, or to consider it as the basis for their entry into overseas markets seems to be the few options at this point,” he added.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
