Over half of Korea's streaming service users log on at least 5 days a week: Study

The most preferred video streaming platform among Koreans is YouTube, according to a survey by the Korea Communications Commission. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

More than 60 percent of streaming service users in Korea use the platforms at least five days a week, according to a report by the Korea Communications Commission on Tuesday.

The most preferred video streaming platform was YouTube.

The report titled “2022 Study on the Usage of Broadcasting Media” (translated) surveyed 6,708 men and women over the age of 13, in 4,287 households nationwide, between June and August 2022.

According to the respondents, 72 percent of those surveyed use some form of video streaming service; a slight increase from last year's 69.5 percent. The average time spent watching videos on such platforms was 1 hour and 29 minutes a day, with 95.7 percent watching more than once a week and 60.7 percent watching five times a week or more.

The most preferred video streaming service was YouTube (66.1 percent), followed by Netflix (31.5 percent), Tving (7.8 percent) and Wavve (6.1 percent).

Users mainly watched celebrity videos or entertainment shows (67.2 percent), drama series (49.6 percent), news (31.4 percent), sports (22.9 percent) and current events and arts (21.8 percent).

Most watched them on their smartphones, 89.1 percent, a slight decrease compared to last year's 92.2 percent. As of today, 93.4 percent of Koreans own a personal smartphone, and the number has largely remained consistent over the past three years. The elder generations, however, showed an increase in smartphone ownership; 93.8 percent of people in their 60s owned at least one.

The number of people watching the content on a television screen increased from 12.4 percent last year to 16.2 percent.

Seventy percent of respondents said that smartphones were the most necessary device in everyday life, while television, the runner-up, was only chosen by 27.5 percent. Less than 2 percent replied that a personal desktop computer, laptop, newspaper or radio were essential.

Around 90.1 percent use their smartphones and 75.5 percent watched television more than five times a week. The older the respondent was, the more they tended to watch television.

Only half, or 50.7 percent, of respondents over the age of 70 used smartphones, which is less than half the number of other age groups.

Overall, 95.4 percent of households owned a television, while that figure was 90.4 percent for one-person households.

BY HALEY YANG [yang.hyunjoo@joongang.co.kr]