A survey found that the center of news consumption in Korea is shifting from internet portals to video platforms such as YouTube.
According to the 2025 media audience survey released by the Korea Press Foundation (KPF) on Jan. 5, a poll of 6,000 people age 19 and older conducted from July to September last year found that 66.5% said they used internet portals for news in the past week. That was down 1.2 percentage points from the previous year and the lowest since portal news usage was included in the 2017 survey. Portal usage peaked at 79.2% in 2021 and has fallen for three straight years.
By contrast, news usage via online video platforms jumped 11.6 percentage points, from 18.4% in 2024 to 30.0% in 2025. By platform, YouTube was highest at 92.2%. Short-form news usage more than doubled over the same period, from 11.1% to 22.9%. Among traditional media, TV news usage rebounded from 72.2% to 81.4%.
Print newspaper readership fell 1.2 percentage points year over year to a record low of 8.4%. The rate was 3.1% for those in their 20s and 4.2% for those in their 30s, and among those in their 50s it declined from 15.3% to 10.4%. The average daily time spent reading print newspapers fell to 28.5 minutes. The foundation said, "Amid a rebound in news usage driven by political issues, the media driving the increase is video-based," adding, "The shift from reading news to watching news has entered full swing."
Meanwhile, news usage via generative artificial intelligence was low at 2.1%. Trust in news and current affairs information rose 3.5 percentage points from last year to 49.0%, but the younger the age group, the lower the trust. The most serious issues the press needs to address were cited as clickbait articles, abusing articles, and biased articles. The foundation noted that as platform-centered distribution grows, news outlets' video production capabilities and verification systems will become more important.