ChatGPT Tops Generative AI Usage Among Koreans... Naver Leads Search, KakaoTalk Dominates Messaging

As of last year, the size of the domestic digital platform market exceeded 161 trillion won, with ChatGPT found to be the most widely used service in the generative artificial intelligence (AI) sector. In the search platform category, Naver ranked first with an overwhelming market share, while KakaoTalk dominated the messenger segment.

On June 3, the Ministry of Science and ICT announced the results of the "2025 Value-Added Telecommunications Service Survey." This survey, conducted annually since 2021 under the Telecommunications Business Act, included, for the first time this year, research on user behavior regarding digital platforms and the bundling of platform services.

According to the survey results, total revenue from value-added telecommunications services last year reached 502.9 trillion won, marking a 15.3% increase from the previous year. Of this, digital platform services—such as e-commerce, app markets, and social media, which connect suppliers and consumers—accounted for 161.5 trillion won. This represents a 5.4% increase year-on-year and made up 32.1% of the total value-added telecommunications revenue.

The survey targeted 6,049 value-added telecommunications service providers, excluding businesses with less than 100 million won in capital and those that were inactive or closed, with 1,451 companies responding.

By business type, service providers such as food delivery and travel/accommodation reservations accounted for the largest proportion at 30.9%. This was followed by goods transaction-focused e-commerce at 27.1%, and content providers such as search and gaming at 15.5%.

Among the responding companies, 62.2% reported utilizing at least one digital advanced technology, such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data, or cybersecurity.

The main challenges cited by companies included difficulties in securing skilled personnel in cutting-edge technologies, insufficient government support for industry development, and the burden of high infrastructure costs.

In the process of expanding overseas, major obstacles were identified as difficulties in marketing and distribution, a lack of information on local laws and regulations, and problems securing support personnel.

The accompanying user behavior survey also revealed distinct usage patterns for domestic platforms.

A survey of 2,500 adult men and women aged 19 to 69, residing in all 17 metropolitan and provincial areas across the country, found that 98.7% had used search services within the past three months, ranking the highest. This was followed by messengers at 98.5%, place/map services at 96.8%, e-commerce at 95.6%, and video sharing at 92.7%.

Although the usage rate for generative AI services was relatively low at 78.1%, it reached 92.6% among people in their 20s, indicating high engagement among younger users.

The proportion of daily users was highest for messengers at 91.3%, followed by search at 85.8%, and video sharing at 69.5%.

By platform preference, Naver led the search segment with 67.5%, KakaoTalk dominated messengers at 92.5%, and Instagram was the most popular social networking service (SNS) at 35.9%.

In the e-commerce sector, Coupang ranked first with 53.6%, Google Play led app markets at 64.6%, YouTube topped video sharing at 78.0%, and Baemin (Baedal Minjok) was the leading food delivery service at 50.6%.

In the generative AI field, ChatGPT overwhelmingly ranked first at 68.1%. For place/maps, Naver Map led at 50.7%, while Danggeun Market (Karrot) had the highest usage rate for secondhand trading at 88.3%.

The multi-homing rate—users utilizing two or more platforms simultaneously—was highest in e-commerce at 83.9%, followed by SNS at 79.9%, and search portals at 76.9%. In contrast, the rates were relatively low for secondhand trading and app markets, at 25.9% and 24.9%, respectively.

Over the past year, the highest rate of users switching their primary platform was in food delivery services at 27.0%, followed by e-commerce at 20.9%. App markets and messengers saw lower user migration rates, at 10.3% and 9.4%, respectively.

The survey on platform bundling also confirmed the "lock-in effect" of e-commerce memberships and OTT subscription services.

A total of 1,897 respondents, or 75.9% of all participants, had experience subscribing to e-commerce memberships, with Coupang WOW, Naver Plus, Shinsegae Universe, and Woori Pass named in that order by usage volume.

Coupang was found to attract users through its fast delivery services, while Naver leveraged price competitiveness and service integration as its main strengths.

A comparison of consumption patterns before and after membership sign-up indicated that both Coupang and Naver showed a clear "lock-in" effect among users.

On the other hand, OTT and telecom membership bundles did not significantly differ from actual OTT usage rankings, suggesting their market influence is limited.

The Ministry of Science and ICT stated, "We plan to continue expanding data analysis that reflects market trends and use it to develop policies that vitalize the value-added telecommunications market."

These survey results highlight that as generative AI usage rapidly becomes part of daily life in Korea's digital platform market, user concentration around major platforms like ChatGPT, Naver, KakaoTalk, and Coupang is becoming even more pronounced.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.