ChatGPT logo. Reuters Yonhap News

A survey found that in Korea, users most often use Naver for search, KakaoTalk for messaging, and ChatGPT for generative artificial intelligence (AI). In messaging (KakaoTalk), secondhand trading (Danggeun Market), and video sharing (YouTube), the status of the top platform was solid. Revenue from digital platform services in 2024 exceeded 161 trillion KRW.

According to the results of the 2025 Survey on Value-Added Telecommunications Business released by the Ministry of Science and ICT on the 3rd, revenue from value-added telecommunications services in 2024 was 502.9 trillion KRW, up 15.3% from the previous year. Of this, revenue from digital platforms that mediate two-sided markets of supply and demand, such as e-commerce, app markets, and social networking services, reached 161.5 trillion KRW, up 5.4% year on year.

A survey of 2,500 men and women aged 19 to 69 on their usage over the past three months (October to December 2025) showed high usage rates above 90% for search (98.7%), messaging (98.5%), places and maps (96.8%), e-commerce (95.6%), and video sharing (92.7%). The usage rate for generative AI was 78.1%, lower than other types, but among those in their 20s it was relatively high at 92.6%.

By type, the leading platforms were Naver for search (67.5%), KakaoTalk for messaging (92.5%), Instagram for social networking services (35.9%), and Coupang for e-commerce (53.6%). In addition, Google Play led app markets (64.6%), YouTube led video sharing (78.0%), Baedal Minjok led food delivery (50.6%), ChatGPT led generative AI (68.1%), Naver Map led places and maps (50.7%), and Danggeun Market led secondhand trading (88.3%).

Over the past three months, the rate of parallel use of two or more platforms (multi-homing) was high for e-commerce (83.9%), social networking services (79.9%), and search portals (76.9%), while it was low for secondhand trading (25.9%) and app markets (24.9%).

The Ministry of Science and ICT explained that in most categories respondents preferred platforms that were familiar and easy to use, and that for e-commerce, fast delivery and low prices were key reasons for platform choice, while for food delivery, whether users held a membership was a major factor.