Younger Koreans can't get enough of short-form video, survey shows

Half of South Korean workers in their 20s said they are "addicted to watching short videos" on mobile or online platforms, according to a recent survey by job search platform Incruit.

In the survey conducted of 870 employees across the country between April 29 and May 1, 27.4 percent of all respondents said they are "addicted" to watching short-form videos. Per age group, 49.8 percent of the respondents in their 20s and 30.8 percent of those in their 30s said they were addicted.

The survey also showed that more women than men were into watching short videos, with 35.4 percent of the former and 21 percent of the latter saying they were addicted to short videos.

In terms of seniority, it appeared that those in their third to fifth year of employment were most likely to spend their time watching short-form videos, with 40.4 percent of them identifying themselves as being addicted.

The most popular platform for watching shorts was YouTube, picked by 63.9 percent of the respondents, followed by Instagram reels, used by 23.2 percent.

Online video platforms have been growing more prominent in recent years, with a substantial number of viewers of existing TV variety shows opting to watch highlights via short videos on YouTube or Instagram. This trend was reflected in the survey, as it showed that 46.3 percent of all respondents said they watch short videos for highlights of broadcast television variety shows.

The next most popular form of short-form video was of animals at 11.4 percent, followed by those featuring a specific content creator, at 10.8 percent.

Some 45.1 percent of the respondents replied that the reason they enjoy short-form videos is to watch as much content as one can in a short period of time, while 32.3 percent said they watch them out of habit, with no particular reason.