YouTube usage topped 40 hours per person in January

A graph shows the average time a Korean spends on YouTube per month in this photo provided by mobile market research firm WiseappㆍRetailㆍGoods. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) [Yonhap]

Koreans spent over 40 hours on global video streaming platform YouTube in January to surpass the mark for the first time, industry data showed Monday.

Korean users on Android and iOS systems collectively spent a record 111.9 billion minutes on YouTube in the first month of 2024, according to a sample survey by mobile market research firm WiseappㆍRetailㆍGoods.

The figure more than doubled the 51.9 billion minutes tallied in January 2019.

Over the past five years, the monthly average of time on YouTube per person also nearly doubled from 21 hours to 40 hours.

It is the first time that the monthly average has topped the 40-hour threshold in Korea, the company said.

The increase in YouTube usage came in line with a rise in the application's user base in the country.

In December, YouTube became the most-used mobile platform in South Korea with 45.65 million monthly active users (MAUs), outstripping Kakao, the country's top mobile messenger, at 45.56 million MAUs, according to the mobile index data from industry tracker IGAWorks.

YouTube also ranked as the most-used mobile platform here in January and February.

Yonhap