Image generated by ChatGPT
ChatGPT is the most widely used generative artificial intelligence (AI) service in Korea, while Naver leads in search portals, according to a government survey.
The Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) released the results of its “2025 Value-Added Telecommunications Business Survey” on Wednesday.
Conducted annually since 2021 under Article 34-2 of the Telecommunications Business Act, this year’s survey added a behavioral analysis of major digital platform service users and a study on platform service bundling.
The digital platform user behavior survey covered 2,500 adults aged 19 to 69 across 17 metropolitan cities and provinces nationwide. Daily usage was highest for messaging services (91.3%), followed by search (85.8%) and video sharing (69.5%).
Naver ranked first in search at 67.5%, KakaoTalk led messaging at 92.5%, Instagram topped social networking at 35.9%, and Coupang led e-commerce at 53.6%.
The generative AI usage rate stood at 78.1%, with users in their 20s recording a usage rate exceeding 90%. ChatGPT was the most widely used generative AI service at 68.1%.
In other categories, Google Play led the app market at 64.6%, YouTube topped video sharing at 78.0%, Baedal Minjok led food delivery at 50.6%, Naver Map led the place and map category at 50.7%, and Karrot Market led second-hand trading at 88.3%.
The bundling survey, which examined e-commerce and over-the-top (OTT) membership subscription patterns and market impact, found that 53.9% of respondents had subscribed to a telecommunications carrier’s OTT membership. SKT had the most subscribers, followed by KT, LGU+, and Tving+Wavve.
E-commerce membership subscription experience reached 75.9%. The most-used memberships were Coupang Wow, Naver Plus, Shinsegae Universe, and Woozoo Pass, in that order.
“We will continue to provide timely data analysis reflecting market trends and develop effective policies to revitalize the value-added telecommunications market,” the MSIT said.