In the aftermath of the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19), online economic activities in the 40s and 60s increased significantly. The number of reservations for movies and performances through the Internet has decreased, and the use of online video services (OTT) has increased. In particular, the rate of video usage of the elderly over 60’s exceeded 80%. Among the videos, the usage rate of YouTube and Netflix increased sharply, while the use rate of native OTT such as Naver and African TV fell.
2020 Internet usage survey
Individual usage time from 17 to 20 hours
“Sudden increase in Internet economic activity for elderly”
Mobile banking usage scene. News 1
On the 3rd, the Ministry of Science, ICT and ICT and the Korea Intelligent Information Society Agency announced the results of the ‘2020 Internet Usage Status Survey’ on the 3rd. According to the results of the survey, as external activities were restricted due to Corona 19, individual usage hours reached an average of 20.1 hours per week. This is an increase of nearly 3 hours from 2019 (17.4 hours). On the other hand, the percentage of use while on the road was 79.1%, down 20.7 percentage points from the previous year.
Internet shopping in 40s, Internet banking in 60s soaring
Corona 19 has changed the way Internet services are used across generations. Online education for teens, videoconferencing or remote work for the 20s and 30s, internet shopping and banking for the 40s and 50s, and video and messenger usage for those in their 60s and above surged year-on-year.
In particular, as the necessity of internet shopping and internet banking increased, the online economic activity of the middle-aged and seniors increased sharply. For all generations, internet shopping usage rate increased from 64.1% in 2019 to 69.9% last year, and internet banking usage increased from 64.9% in the same period to 76.5%.
Among them, the increasing trend of those in their 40s and 60s was remarkable. The Internet shopping usage rate increased by 14.6 percentage points for those in their 40s compared to the previous year and 16.1 percentage points for those in their 50s. In internet banking, the usage rate of 50s and 60s increased by 23.2% and 23.6% points compared to the previous year.
Internet shopping and banking usage rates by age group. Graphic = Reporter Cha Junhong [email protected]
Gang-hyeon Kang, the information and communication policy officer of the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, “The rate of Internet banking in their 60s and Internet shopping in their 50s greatly exceeded the average growth rate of all age groups. Said.
As concerns about the disease increased due to Corona 19, search for information on health and eating habits and internet shopping have increased significantly. The rate of searching for health and medical information on the Internet increased significantly compared to the previous year (63.6%·17.3% points), and the rate of purchasing health-related products such as masks and hand sanitizers (41.9%·17.1% points) also increased significantly. . In many cases, food ingredients or food were purchased online (51.7%) due to restrictions on external activities.
Significant increase in YouTube and Netflix usage rates
Changes in usage rate by video service. Graphic = Reporter Cha Junhong [email protected]
The way we use leisure has also changed. Compared to the decline in movie and performance reservations (41.3%, 14.7% points) through the Internet, the rate of video service usage (92.7%, 11.5% points) increased significantly. In particular, the rate of use of video services in their 60s (82.7% and 22.5% points) has risen significantly, indicating that video plays a role in leisure activities for the retirement age group. By media, the YouTube usage rate was 87.9%, up 11 percentage points from the previous year. Netflix also recorded 17%, up 9.6 percentage points over the previous year. In contrast, Naver (36.1%) and African TV (10.4%) declined by 5.9% and 7.4% points, respectively, compared to the previous year.
Information and Communication Policy Officer Kang Gang-hyeon said, “The Internet use behavior of the people is changing due to the increase in non-face-to-face demand due to the spread of Corona 19. It is encouraging that the gap between age groups has decreased due to the rapid increase in the use of Internet services among the elderly in their 60s and 70s.” said.
Reporter Kim Kyung-jin [email protected]
