Nina Jobst
Research expert covering South Korea
User-generated content in South Korea - statistics & facts
Becoming a content creator or influencer is now a career goal for children in South Korea. In fact, it has become the a very popular career choice among elementary school students, showing how user-generated content has infiltrated daily life. Unsurprisingly, over half of all respondents in a South Korean survey answered that they followed influencers on social media.
The power of influencers
The influence of popular content creators has extended to being seen and treated as celebrities. These creators influence the purchasing or lifestyle decisions of consumers, which is why influencer marketing has become an effortless way for brands to promote their products. Despite their cultural impact, the accounts with the largest social media following in South Korea all belonged to celebrities, particularly K-pop idols or their labels. With K-pop’s origin in South Korea, it is not a surprise that people would follow them on social media domestically. Still, K-pop and its artists have also garnered international popularity thanks to Hallyu, the Korean wave. Well-organized and dedicated K-pop fans push their favorite artists’ social media presence even higher, leading to increased popularity and more brand deals for them.Are short-form videos the future of content creation in South Korea?
While some of the now well-known celebrities might have started their career as influencers on Instagram, the same path of achieving success is unlikely for those who want to follow in their footsteps. Content in the format of pictures is simply not as popular as before, and many creators have adopted short video content creation to stay relevant with new algorithms. But even within video creation, there are differences. Popularized through TikTok, other social media platforms have followed suit and launched their own short-form video content sections, such as YouTube Shorts or Instagram reels, to compete. The most popular service for short videos in South Korea was YouTube Shorts, continuing its overall popularity as an online video platform. While “classic” videos were still rather well-watched, short-form videos have slowly begun to take over some of their viewership. Considering the comparable ease of short-form content production to longer videos in South Korea, short-term videos seem here to stay.
