An analysis found that this year, reading content consumption among people in their teens and 20s increased markedly. They showed a tendency to view the classics as content for self-exploration.
Domestic reading platform KT Millie's Library said on the 16th it will release the Reading Trend Report 2025, which captures changes in this year's reading market and major reading trends.
The Reading Trend Report is an annual report that Millie's library has published every year since 2020, analyzing changes in reading culture and user behavior throughout the year from multiple angles. It is structured to examine the changing reading environment through reading preferences, usage patterns, and content consumption patterns.
Millie's library picked Textextboom as the word that represents this year's reading trend, meaning an increase in text consumption. The report said that as various forms of content, including e-books, web novels, webtoons, audiobooks, and chatbooks, took root in daily life, the ways text is used became more segmented.
The report analyzed, "What stands out is that reading content consumption among people in their teens and 20s is increasing noticeably and is leading a new trend." In particular, people in their 20s were found to be the largest readership for the 100-volume World Literature Series released by Minumsa Publishing Co. in March. A Millie's library official said, "It has been confirmed that Generation Z (born in the mid-1990s to early 2000s) tends to accept the classics not as old books but as 'trendy texts' and content for self-exploration."
Teenagers, whose new inflow increased significantly this year, also appeared to enjoy books in various fields such as novels, comics, and science based on their own tastes.
The report analyzed that as more readers embrace reading as a means of self-exploration and taste expression, new buzzwords related to reading—such as dokpamine (reading dopamine) and odogwan (today's reading completed)—are also spreading. Practices such as "transcription," in which readers copy sentences that linger in their minds by hand, "exchange reading," in which multiple people read a book together and share their impressions, and enjoying short poetry collections like snacks are spreading quickly, centered on people in their teens and 20s.
At Millie's library as well, usage of the e-book "note-taking mode" increased, and a participatory reading culture took hold, with active reading logs and sharing of impressions using the exchange reading program Share Book and the in-app Post feature.
As reading methods become more segmented in this way, the Millie's library user base is also steadily expanding. Millie's library said, "Since launching our subscription service in 2017, we have grown steadily," adding, "By gender, users were evenly distributed at 56% women and 44% men, and by age group, people in their 20s and 30s accounted for the largest share."
Lee Seong-ho, head of the Reading Party division at Millie's library, said, "This year, reading did not remain in a specific format; it became more segmented across various formats and methods, making the reading experience itself more diverse," adding, "Millie's library will continue to closely observe the changing reading culture and keep making attempts to energize the reading ecosystem as a whole."