"Put Down Their Smartphones and Turned on the Living Room TV"... An Unexpected Twist Amid the OTT Wave

Share of OTT viewing on TV up 12.6 percentage points

Despite the expansion of online video services (OTT), the rate of TV use has actually increased. Analysts say, however, that TV's role is changing as more people move away from the traditional practice of watching programs scheduled by broadcasters and instead consume a wider range of content, including OTT services and YouTube, on TV screens.

According to the Broadcasting Media and Communications Commission's "2025 Survey on Broadcast Media Usage," released on the 9th, 70.9% of people used TV at least five days a week last year, up 1.8 percentage points from 69.1% the previous year. The average daily time spent watching TV also rose by one minute from the previous year to 2 hours and 28 minutes.

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Last year, the OTT usage rate was 81.8%, continuing its steady rise from 77.0% in 2023 and 79.2% in 2024. Smartphones were the most commonly cited primary device for watching OTT content (multiple responses allowed), at 83.6%, while 36.4% also watched through TV sets.

The share of people watching OTT content on TV rose by 12.6 percentage points from 23.8% the previous year, while the share watching on smartphones fell by 7.6 percentage points. This indicates that OTT use is expanding beyond smartphones to other devices, including TVs.

The growing availability of smart TVs is also supporting this shift. While the share of all households that owned a TV set remained largely unchanged at 94.9%, smart TV ownership continued to rise, from 56.1% in 2023 to 65.7% in 2024 and 68.4% last year.

With the spread of smart TVs and the growth in OTT use, TVs are becoming devices for watching a variety of video content, rather than simply receiving broadcast signals. Instead of only choosing a broadcast channel, viewers are using TV sets to launch OTT applications or search directly for online video content on platforms such as YouTube.

Trust in TV broadcasts was relatively high during emergencies. The share of people who considered TV an essential medium in their daily lives was 23.0%, rising to 29.7% during disasters and emergencies. TV broadcasts were named the most trustworthy medium in such situations by 59.1% of respondents, far exceeding portals and newspapers (17.1%) and messaging services (7.7%).

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