A file photo showing YouTube’s logo (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Jan. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — YouTube is poised to become the most used mobile platform in South Korea, closely trailing the current leader KakaoTalk, industry data showed Wednesday.
As of December, KakaoTalk, the country’s top mobile messenger run by Kakao Corp., had a total of 41.02 million monthly active users (MAUs), while Google’s YouTube was hot on its heels with only 336 fewer MAUs, according to the mobile index data from industry tracker IGAWorks.
It marked the smallest difference in MAUs between the two giant mobile platforms since IGAWorks began compiling the data from Android and iOS, two primary mobile operating systems for smartphones, in May 2020.
In December 2022, KakaoTalk had 1.44 million more MAUs than YouTube, but the gap narrowed to around 200,000 in November last year and to the 300 level last month.
Market observers say YouTube is expected to outpace KakaoTalk to claim the top spot in the mobile platform ranking later this year.
The growth of YouTube’s popularity is mainly attributable to an increasing user base in their 30s, traditionally dominated by KakaoTalk.
Recent data showed YouTube has overtaken its Korean rival in terms of MAUs in this age group from the second quarter.
YouTube Music, YouTube’s music streaming service, also outperformed Melon, Kakao Corp.’s music streaming service, for the first time to rank at No. 1 with nearly 6.5 million listeners last month.
(Yonhap)
