This February, however, YouTube app use surged with 25.7 billion minutes expended, increasing more than threefold. (Image: Yonhap)
SEOUL, March 8 (Korea Bizwire) — In the last two years, the amount of time spent on the YouTube app by South Koreans has tripled, beating out competition like online messaging service KakaoTalk and leading internet search portal Naver.
According to mobile app research firm Wiseapp, South Koreans logged 7.9 billion minutes on the YouTube app in March 2016, falling short of the 18.9 billion minutes spent using KakaoTalk and the 10.9 billion minutes invested in Naver.
This February, however, YouTube app use surged with 25.7 billion minutes expended, increasing more than threefold.
In comparison, both KakaoTalk and Naver app use saw minor changes, coming at 17.9 billion minutes and 12.6 billion minutes of usage time, respectively.
Use of the Facebook app dropped from 4.9 billion minutes in March two years prior to 4.2 billion minutes in February.
Data was collected via a sample survey by Wiseapp, and only Android smartphone users participated. As such, the usage habits of iPhone users were not incorporated into this study.
With YouTube access soaring, the types of content most popular with domestic audiences have become a subject of interest.
Perhaps unexpectedly, videos targeting a very young audience have been drawing in large numbers of viewers.
The most popular YouTube content in South Korea last year was a near 30-minute video of children’s songs titled “Shark Family Special: All Versions” uploaded by music creator Pinkfong!.
Pinkfong! and shark characters (Image: Yonhap)
Pinkfong!’s song videos have earned a following abroad. The musical shorts in English, Russian, Spanish and three more languages have registered more than 1 billion views.
Per YouTube, the sixth most popular video last year was the 10th anniversary celebration movie of animated character Pororo the Little Penguin, a long-time favorite of young children dubbed “the children’s president”.
As per YouTube, the sixth most popular video last year was the 10th anniversary movie of animated character Pororo the Little Penguin, a long-time favorite of young children dubbed “the children’s president”. (Image: Yonhap)
The creative license offered by YouTube is credited for increasing exposure of video content creators’ work, and by doing so, attracting more producers and viewers to engage with the platform.
S.B.W. (sbw266@koreabizwire.com)
