SEOUL: U.S.-based social media giants YouTube and Instagram have significantly increased their footprint in South Korea’s app market, experiencing a notable rise in user engagement over the past year. In contrast, domestic platforms such as KakaoTalk and Naver have witnessed a decline in their usage time, according to recent data.
According to Yonhap News Agency, industry tracker Wiseapp reported that YouTube maintained its dominance in the South Korean market, with users spending a total of 1.8 billion hours on the platform in September, marking a 9.5 percent increase from the previous year. Instagram also saw a substantial surge, with its usage time climbing 42.1 percent year-on-year to 378 million hours, securing its position as the third-most popular application by usage time.
This surge in usage of international platforms comes as KakaoTalk, the second most-used app in South Korea, experienced a 3.3 percent decline in usage time, totaling 527 million hours. Similarly, Naver, South Korea’s leading searc
h engine, recorded a 9.7 percent decrease in user engagement, with 329 million hours logged last month.
Industry analysts attribute the growing popularity of YouTube and Instagram to their focus on short-form video content, which has become increasingly popular among users. YouTube’s Shorts and Instagram’s Reels, both launched in recent years, have encouraged users to spend more time on these platforms.
Experts suggest that South Korean platforms like Naver and Kakao may need to enhance their short-form video offerings to remain competitive. “There are limits for domestic players like Naver and Kakao to directly compete with Instagram and YouTube in short-form video services, which are watched by global audiences,” an industry official noted. The official recommended that these platforms focus on improving compensation models for content creators to retain and attract talent.