South Korea's digital platform sales top 161 trillion won, with Naver and ChatGPT dominating their fields

South Korea's digital platform market surpassed 161 trillion won (about $107 billion) in sales last year, with users showing clear preferences by category — Naver for search, KakaoTalk for messaging and ChatGPT for generative AI, according to a new government survey.

The Ministry of Science and ICT released the findings Tuesday as part of its "2025 Value-Added Telecommunications Business Survey." This year's edition for the first time included data on digital platform usage behavior and bundled platform service sales.

Total sales across value-added telecommunications services reached 502.9 trillion won in 2024, up 15.3 percent from the previous year. Of that, digital platform services — which connect providers and users through channels such as e-commerce, app markets and social media — generated 161.5 trillion won, a 5.4 percent increase year-on-year and equivalent to 32.1 percent of total value-added telecom sales.

The business survey covered 6,049 value-added telecom operators, excluding those with capital under 100 million won and those that had suspended or ceased operations, with 1,451 companies responding.

By business type, service intermediaries — including food delivery and travel and accommodation booking — accounted for the largest share at 30.9 percent. Goods transaction platforms such as e-commerce followed at 27.1 percent, while content providers including search and gaming made up 15.5 percent.

Platform companies are also stepping up their use of emerging digital technologies. Some 62.2 percent of responding businesses said they use at least one such technology, including AI, big data or cybersecurity tools. However, companies flagged securing talent in cutting-edge fields, insufficient government support and infrastructure costs as their main challenges. For those expanding overseas, difficulties included building marketing and distribution networks, a lack of information on local laws and regulations, and finding qualified personnel.

The user survey confirmed how deeply major platforms have embedded themselves in daily life. Among 2,500 adults aged 19 to 69 surveyed across all 17 of South Korea's cities and provinces on their usage over the past three months, search services recorded the highest usage rate at 98.7 percent. Messaging came in at 98.5 percent, place search and maps at 96.8 percent, e-commerce at 95.6 percent and video sharing at 92.7 percent.

Generative AI usage stood at 78.1 percent — lower than other services — but reached 92.6 percent among users in their 20s, suggesting the technology is rapidly becoming a routine part of daily life for younger generations.

Messaging topped daily usage at 91.3 percent, followed by search at 85.8 percent and video sharing at 69.5 percent.

Market leaders were clear in each category. Naver held first place in search with a 67.5 percent share, while KakaoTalk dominated messaging at 92.5 percent. ChatGPT led generative AI with 68.1 percent.

In other categories, Instagram led social media at 35.9 percent, Coupang Inc topped e-commerce at 53.6 percent, Google Play led app markets at 64.6 percent, YouTube dominated video sharing at 78.0 percent, Baemin led food delivery at 50.6 percent, Naver Maps topped place search and navigation at 50.7 percent, and Karrot led secondhand trading at 88.3 percent.

The Ministry of Science and ICT said it would continue timely data analysis reflecting market trends to develop effective policies aimed at invigorating the value-added telecommunications market.