YouTube dominates news consumption among older, conservative Koreans: study

Icons for the Youtube and TikTok apps are seen on a smartphone in this photo illustration created July 13, 2021. Reuters-Yonhap

Koreans aged over 50 and those with conservative political leanings tend to consume news through YouTube much more than younger people and those with progressive tendencies.

According to the latest issue of Media Survey, published by the Korea Press Foundation on Tuesday, these findings were included in the Digital News Report 2025, a survey conducted by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford.

Since its first edition in 2012, the annual report has compiled survey results on digital news usage and perceptions in major countries. This year’s edition is based on an online survey of 98,072 individuals across 48 countries, including 2,038 respondents from Korea.

The survey shows that, alongside the Philippines, Korea ranks fourth in terms of YouTube news consumption, with usage at 50 percent. This puts it behind Thailand and India at 55 percent, and Kenya which has a usage rate of 54 percent.

The figure was 20 percentage points higher than the global average of 30 percent, indicating that YouTube has become a major news source in the country.

Notably, the highest YouTube news consumption rate was among those in their 50s at 61 percent, followed by people in their 60s and over at 53 percent. By contrast, the rates were significantly lower among younger age groups: 44 percent for those in their 20s, 32 percent for those in their 30s and 48 percent for those in their 40s.

The foundation analysis revealed that, while younger generations are moving to new platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, middle-aged and older adults actively use YouTube as their main news source.

Compared to last year’s figures, the rates for people in their 20s and 30s fell by 6 and 15 percentage points respectively. Meanwhile, the rate for people in their 50s increased by 9 percentage points.

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Political orientation also played a significant role in determining how people consume news.

Conservatives are far more likely to turn to YouTube for news: 63 percent of them do so, compared to 43 percent of progressives.

This 20-point difference is striking, particularly since the global average difference between conservatives and progressives in the 48 countries surveyed is only 1 percentage point, with 33 percent identifying as conservative and 32 percent as progressive.

Compared to last year, the gap between the two groups has grown, with usage among conservatives increasing by 5 percentage points from 58 percent to 63 percent, while usage among progressives decreased by 9 percentage points from 53 percent to 43 percent.

Progressive users had previously shown a steady increase in YouTube news consumption, rising from 43 percent in 2021 to 62 percent in 2023. However, there was a sharp decline to 52 percent in 2024. This suggests that progressives may have migrated to alternative platforms, which has contributed to the widening gap.

Pro- and anti-impeachment rallies against and for former President Yoon Suk Yeol take place across Seoul, April 4. Korea Times file

YouTube and news apps remained the most popular platforms for watching news-related videos among Koreans, with 53 percent and 28 percent of respondents using them, respectively. However, other social media platforms saw significant increases compared to last year, indicating a rapid diversification of news video consumption channels.

TikTok's popularity surged from 2 percent to 15 percent, making it the third-most-popular platform. It was followed by Instagram at 14 percent, Facebook at 11 percent and X, formerly Twitter, at 10 percent.

Meanwhile, the level of trust in news in Korea remained unchanged from last year at 31 percent, placing the country 37th out of the 48 countries surveyed — an improvement of one place from 2024.

The average trust level across all 48 countries was 40 percent. This makes Korea’s trust level 9 points lower than average.

“The level of trust that people have in the news they personally consume has remained about 8 percentage points higher than the overall level of trust in news in Korea,” the foundation noted. According to the foundation, this indicates that Korean news consumers distrust the media as a whole, but have more trust in the specific news sources or outlets they choose.

With only 6 percent of Koreans directly visiting news organization websites or using their applications for news, the country recorded the lowest rate alongside Thailand. In stark contrast, Finland leads the way with a direct access rate of 65 percent.

The foundation noted that while dependence on online portals for news consumption is declining, this has not translated into increased direct visits to news organizations’ platforms. Instead, news consumption in Korea is becoming fragmented across various social media and video platforms in an ever-changing digital landscape.

“Korean news organizations need strategies to strengthen their presence on social media platforms and secure direct subscribers,” it said.