Have you ever considered doing YouTube Marketing in South Korea? If you are doing business in the country but never considered it, you should! And here is why:
If you ever wondered what is the favorite Social Media Platform among Koreans, the answer is without any doubt YouTube. The video platform has penetrated the market quite deeply in recent years, especially among older, non-millennial users.
According to Reuters, while Koreans’ consumption of news has been on a decline, when they do check the news, they tend to do so through online sources, making up 79% of the news consumption in the country. Of the social media sites used to consume the news, YouTube was used the most for news, with 51% of respondents saying they use the site to consume and share news. As of April 2024, 43.6 million Koreans (more than 84% of the total Korean population) use YouTube (Statista), and on average spend an average of 40 hours a month on the app (The Korea Herald). YouTube is used even more than KakaoTalk, the most popular messaging app among Koreans. Part of its growth may be due its popularity as a news source.
The data doesn’t lie. Last year there were over 12,000 channels with over 10k subscribers, over 2,000 channels with 100k subscribers and more than 2000 channels with 100k subscribers and more than 200 channels with 1 million subscribers in South Korea (Source: TechCrunch).
Nowadays “YouTube Creator” is a trendy career path for young people who are struggling to get corporate jobs in a highly competitive job market, and was picked as 1 of the 5 top desired professions among elementary school kids. With so many local users creating and consuming content, the total number of video hours uploaded has grown quickly, and so too, the opportunities for advertisers.
Influencer Marketing on YouTube
Influencer Marketing can be found everywhere on Korean YouTube Channels. Not only big brands but small businesses, like restaurants or online retail stores are seeking the right influencer to promote their brands. Korean YouTube channel categories are diverse, and popular content includes a wide range of topics such as ASMR, mukbang, lifestyle, toy reviews and tutorials.
Partnerships with YouTube creators who match your brand’s image are the most effective marketing that you can do on YouTube, since South Korea is a trend-driven society. Korean people are always seeking innovation and YouTubers have a high influence on viewers’ purchase decisions.
Top Korean YouTube Channel Categories:
As as 2024, these are the most popular YouTubers in Korea :
- Tzuyang쯔양 (10 million subscribers): Mukbang channel
- 곽튜브 (kwaktube) (2 million subscribers): Food and travel vlogger
- [함지]Hamzy (12.7 million subscribers): Mukbang channel
- 히밥hebab (1.61 million subscribers): Mukbang channel
- 빠니보틀 Pani Bottle (2.25 million subscribers): Travel vlogger
Results based on Gallup public opinion poll, not number of subscribers
However, due to some controversies about the lack of regulation on sponsored content, South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission introduced new rules on September 1 of 2020. From now on, advertisements must be clearly disclosed and ambiguous terms such as “in collaboration with” or “thanks to…” are banned. According to the Fair Trade Commission, this new regulation will help YouTubers to develop more transparent and trustworthy relationships with their viewers.
YouTube Ads – Video Paid Advertisement in Korea
Paid Ads on YouTube are also a big opportunity for marketers. Overall, viewers pay more attention when watching YouTube ads versus TV commercials, and they are 1.7X more likely to engage with them. After ad exposure, 63% of Koreans search for related information on the brand, which is great news for marketers. When Korean people want something, they act quickly.
One recommendation when you are developing YouTube Ads is to make sure to be creative. Korean video Ads have a unique style and are tailored to local consumers. Celebrities, catchy songs, weird humor and vivid colors are frequently found in ads, which might seem odd in western countries. Conducting market research on the industry before developing your content can really make the difference.
According to Google, these were the Most Popular Korean Video Ads of 2023:
1. Galaxy S23 Ultra Official Film: Epic Nightography by Samsung
2. Zero Sugar Saero Soju (feat. Lee Do-hyun) by Lotte
3. Maxim T.O.P X Crush (크러쉬) – ‘Keep it Up’ Full MV by Maxim
Recommendations for Brands
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- Watch Out for the trends: Short-form content has been on the rise all over the world, and applies to South Korea as well. Koreans in their 20s and 30s are increasingly spending their time watching short-form content, with 49.8% of workers in their 20s responding to one survey that they were addicted to watching it (The Korea Herald). And their favorite place to watch it is YouTube, whose Shorts service dominates short-form content in the country (The Korea Herald). Make sure to incorporate YouTube Shorts into your marketing strategy, if you want to reach young Koreans with your advertising.
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- Upgrade your SEO game: With so many people actively looking for content, improving your YouTube KR SEO Strategy could raise your views and exposure in unimaginable ways.
- TV+YouTube for coverage: Advertising on YouTube and TV could raise your reach to 70%. A Case Study conducted by P&G in Korea found that the cost of unique reach on YouTube was 2.5 times less than the cost of the TV campaign.
Related Topics
Korean Digital Marketing Strategies for Content Marketing 2021
Korean Search Engine Market Share in 2021
