Korea: A UNIQUELY LOCAL DIGITAL ECOSYSTEM

ONE OF THE FASTEST-GROWING GLOBAL ECONOMIES

With a GDP of USD $1.7 trillion and an economy set to peak in 2019, Korea represents an attractive yet relatively untapped market for foreign brands targeting Asia.

However, setting up and running websites, ads, and social media accounts on the local platforms requires competency in the Korean alphabet, Hangul, and an understanding of Korean society, which was propelled to present-day boom by people who grew up with and are predisposed to using technology.

THE WORLD’S MOST CONNECTED SOCIETY

9/10 Korean adults own a smartphone, and with more than 42 million internet users and the fastest internet speed in the world, Korea is a society accustomed to and primed for digital engagement. Of course, however, the Korean market is dominated by local platforms, with Naver far and away the market leader for search and KaKaoTalk dominating social.

Differing from major global search engines, Naver operates much more like a portal or a directory than a true search engine. Search results pages are long and include vertical search results, such as blogs and websites, in addition to webpages.

KakaoTalk is the #1 social medium in Korea across all demographics with a 93% penetration rate. It supports messaging, gaming, photos, videos, location and contact sharing, follower feeds, and more. Both KakaoTalk and Naver also have their own payment systems that support strong e-commerce on their platforms.

The Korean search market is relatively unexplored by foreign brands, providing a great opportunity for those looking to enter the market. Our native Korean-language team helps brands create the Naver- and KaKaoTalk-based properties required to penetrate and influence Korea, the most heavily connected society in the world.