Online portal news appeals most to white-collar male workers in their 30s

Male white-collar workers in their 30s with a college degree are the biggest users of online portals’ news services, a report showed on Sunday.

According to the report issued by the Korea Press Foundation, male users make up 55.2 percent of news consumers at Korea’s top three portals.

The survey, based on users who regularly browse news at Naver, Daum and Nate, showed that those aged 30-39 account for a 26.4 percent share, followed by those in their 40s (23.8 percent), 19-29-year-olds (21.4 percent) and 18-year-olds or younger (14 percent).

By occupation, white-collar workers took a 45.1 percent share. College graduates also dominate the demographic with a 60.9 percent share.

By monthly household income, the 3 million-4.99 million won bracket took the lead with a 43.3 percent share, suggesting that the upper middle class tend to flock to news sites provided by leading portals.

Naver’s news section attracts more men while Nate appeals relatively strongly to women, the report said. The proportion of men in terms of usage reached 57.9 percent at Naver, 55.2 percent at Daum and 52.3 percent at Nate.

Daum has secured more users in the high income bracket ― households with a monthly income of more than 5 million won ― compared with its rivals.

The report said that Naver tends to provide more lifestyle and entertainment news, whose proportion stood at 57.8 percent, while the figure for Nate and Daum came in at 53.8 percent and 46.2 percent, respectively.

By Yang Sung-jin (insight@heraldcorp.comm)