An employee searches for books using a touch screen at a newly established digital library at the National Library of Korea in Seoul on March 22, 2021. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, April 12 (Korea Bizwire) — Web novel readers in South Korea are more likely to pay for content than webtoon readers, with the former group spending more on content on a monthly basis compared to the latter group, a survey showed Tuesday.
According to a survey of 2,500 Koreans aged 15 to 49 conducted by Opensurvey, 85 percent of those who had read web-based novels in the previous week said that they used paid services, which was 17.4 percentage points higher than that of web-based comic readers.
On average, web novel readers spent 17,370 won (US$13.12) per month on content, which was higher than the 12,150 won spent by webtoon readers.
Furthermore, web novel readers spent an average of 4.7 days per week viewing content, and spent an average of 43.5 minutes per viewing, which were higher than the 4.66 days and 29.41 minutes for webtoon readers.
However, webtoons had a significantly higher overall usage rate and amount of content viewed per reader.
Among the respondents, 46 percent said they had read webtoons in the past, which was far higher than the 15.8 percent who had read web novels.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
