Why so serious? Korea's Gen Z just wants to have fun with its content, media survey finds.

Life & Style

Why so serious? Korea's Gen Z just wants to have fun with its content, media survey finds.

Published: 29 Aug. 2024, 17:53

KIM JI-YE
kim.jiye@joongang.co.kr

An image of BroadCast WorldWide 2024 held in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

For Generation Z, the context doesn't seem to matter as long as the content is fun, according to a survey conducted by the Korea Creative Content Agency (Kocca).

Kocca released a report titled “Gen Z Content Usage Trend” (translated) on Thursday to study how future content consumers use and perceive content.

Kocca collaborates with BBC Studios, Viu to promote K-content

Generation Z, often shortened to Gen Z, refers to people from 15 to 29 years old, according to Kocca’s report.

The content agency collaborated with the JoongAng Group to conduct a survey on 1,519 respondents aged 15 to 69 from July 15 to 25. The survey covered various topics, including the content themes and genres preferred by the respondents, their content consumption habits and their perceptions of AI-generated content.

Through the survey, Kocca drew out five key phrases that described Gen Z’s content consumption style: Paradox of Context, Reality-Fantasy Fusion, Interactive Emotional Exploration, Speedy Consumption, Mixed Views on AI. It named this set of phrases "Prism," which is an acronym derived from the five phrases.

A total of 42 percent of Gen Z respondents answered that they valued entertainment over context while watching video content like dramas, films and variety shows, which the agency defined as the “paradox of context.”

Among the Gen Z respondents, 45 percent said that if a scene was funny in a variety show or webtoon, they didn't mind if it lacked plausibility or realism.

When asked about how they chose to interact with content, the report showed that Gen Z had a high tendency to explore others' reviews throughout the whole content-consumption process.

Over half of the Gen Z respondents, 54 percent, said that they were affected by others’ reviews when deciding to watch content. After watching the content, 50 percent of them tend to seek out other viewers' reactions to the content they have seen.

“Gen Z viewers feel satisfied and interested when encountering reactions similar to their own, but showed a tendency to be skeptical of differing opinions, often delving into reviews and responses that are similar to theirs,” Kocca said in a press release.

The survey also showed that Gen Z content consumers have mixed views on AI, despite being highly familiar with the technology. Almost half of the Gen Z respondents showed a negative perspective on AI-generated content, making up 43 percent. Such a percentage is highly significant compared to baby boomers and Generation X, which stood at 27 percent and 26 percent, respectively. Baby boomers are those between the ages of 60 and 69, while Generation X are those between 45 and 59.

The report was also presented during the BroadCast Worldwide 2024, an international market for broadcast industry insiders. The event kicked off on Tuesday and will run until Thursday.

BY KIM JI-YE [kim.jiye@joongang.co.kr]