KakaoTV will shut down its service at the end of June.
KakaoTV said on the 5th that it made the difficult decision to end the service as of June 30, 2026, due to rapidly changing trends in the content market and shifts in the operating environment.
KakaoTV, which launched in 2017, will stop creating new channels and uploading video on demand (VOD) starting June 1, and will end service operations on June 30. Users can begin backing up videos from 2 p.m. on the 9th.
Industry observers cite YouTube's dominance in the video market as the backdrop for the decision. As user time spent and recommendation traffic concentrate on YouTube, advertising and sponsorship revenue grow, and a virtuous cycle has solidified in which creators and content flow back in. The spread of short-form content has also widened competition to social networks such as TikTok and Instagram, which analysts say added pressure on domestic players.
An industry official said, "Global platforms provide both distribution networks and monetization tools, so producers move quickly."
Marking its 21st anniversary this year, YouTube was acquired by Google in late 2006 and has grown into a "video giant" valued at 800 trillion won as of last year. More than 20 trillion videos have been uploaded to YouTube, and the number of YouTubers worldwide is estimated at over 10 million. According to Google, an average of 20 million videos are uploaded daily worldwide, garnering 3.5 billion likes and 100 million comments.
Wiseapp's sample survey of Korean smartphone users from January to November last year found that YouTube ranked second with an average of 48.23 million monthly users. Other video platforms did not make the top 10 in average monthly users. KakaoTV said it will minimize user inconvenience by guiding users through the backup function. It also asked users to download any necessary data before the service ends.