Finding solace Online
Kakao Covid-19 Report, Part 2
The Kakao COVID-19 Report uses Kakao’s service data to give us perspective on how we are trying to maintain our lives and create a new normal during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data from January to June 2020, from multiple Kakao community and lifestyle services, including Kakao Talk, news, search, media∙contents, mobility, healthcare, e-commerce, fintech, artificial intelligence and social impact, were analyzed to create the Kakao COVID-19 Report. Our findings on the new normal, as are detailed in the Kakao COVID-19 Report, will hopefully be used as reference when building new strategies and policies for the future.
Part 1 is about how our lives have changed since the outbreak of COVID-19, told with data from Kakao’s many services.
Due to the spread of the coronavirus, social distancing has become one of the most important measures we can take to protect ourselves from infection. As part of the social distancing measures, many companies encourage employees to work from home and students are participating in distance learning from home. Weekends are also spent at home to protect ourselves and others from the virus. Therefore, we asked the following questions.
Q. How has spending more time at home affected how you consume media content?
A. Analysis results
① Customer’s consumption has shifted from one-time use to continuous usage. For example, the number of people who use Melon once or twice a week decreased, while the number of people who use Melon six to seven times a week increased.
② Overall, service usage in the morning has decreased, while service usage in the afternoon has increased.
③ Digital prosumers that are active on social media, have shown more activity. Users’ content creation has also increased. The majority of content posted on social media platforms are about COVID-19.
[Prosumer: Consumers who also produce products/services.]
Therefore, since people refrain from going outside and spend more time at home, they show more interest in consuming and producing digital content. Although people are isolated from the offline environment and are confined to their homes, they have found solace in digital activities.
Kakao analyzed the current situation and found the following results.
[Data has been converted to percentage (%) to clearly represent changes that occurred before and after COVID-19 (January 2020). However, absolute values were used for Figures 3 to 8, to accurately display changes per hour. Details on data analysis and methodology are provided at the end of this document.]
# Creating an at-home playlist
Digital music streaming per capita on Melon steadily increased from February to the end of May 2020. Streaming per capita increased up to 22% at the end of May, compared to the first week of January. Streaming decreased slightly in June, when social distancing restrictions were relaxed and continues to decrease slowly as of September 2020.
[Figure 1] Average streaming per capita through Melon (Weekly, Feb. 2020 to June 2020)With the increase in streaming, the number of users who consume music daily has also increased. The number of users who consume music once or twice a week has decreased over time, while those who consume music throughout the week has increased. Listening to music has become a new routine in life during COVID-19.
[Figure 2] Melon’s service usage per week (1st week of each month, Feb. 2020 to Jun. 2020)# A shift in when music is consumed
A COVID-19 super spreader was detected on February 18, 2020. COVID-19 had become a reality. The South Korean government advised people to refrain from traveling to work or school. People who stayed at home started to create a new way of life with music. Figure 2-3 shows when in the day people listened to music in February to June of 2020.
There are two major differences when comparing the number of streaming service users from February and June, and that of March to May. One, the number of users who use the service between 8 to 9 in the morning, when they usually go to work or school, continuously increased in March to June. The number of users who listen to music on the go decreased in March, as more people resorted to remote working and remote learning. And it then steadily increased as more people returned to work and school.
Two, the number of users who listen to music between 9 and 10, when they are usually busy preparing to start the day at work or school, decreased momentarily in February and June, but increased steadily in March to May.
There isn’t a single reason that explains the differences in consumption between the two time periods, from March to May and February and June. However, it is fair to say that the change in mobility patterns caused by COVID-19 is one of the biggest factors.
[Figure 3] Melon’s streaming usage per hour (First week of each month, Feb. 2020 to Jun. 2020)# 8 a.m. is no longer the most popular time to listen to music
Figure 2-3 may not clearly describe the differences in music consumption by time period. We studied the music consumption patterns of individuals in their teens to early 20s (15 to 24 years old) to get a more accurate picture of how COVID-19 affected music consumption hours. (Refer to Figure 4) We took this approach because we assumed that their daily lives had changed drastically once they were not able to physically go to school.
In February 2020, users in their teens to early twenties displayed high level of music consumption at 8 a.m., which is when they usually go to school. Consumption levels declined slightly after 8 a.m., then rebounded in the afternoon. However, these trends changed from March to May. There was no high consumption at 8 a.m. between March and May, as was present in February and June. Instead, there was a steady increase in March to May, without a specific high point of consumption. The reduced amount of travel outside the home affected when users consume music.
[Figure 4] Melon’s streamingusage by the hour (Age group 15 to 24 (Feb. 2020 to Jun. 2020)# Less music in the morning, more in the afternoon
Kakao conducted another analysis to gain more insight on how COVID-19 affected music consumption. We looked at the music streaming user data per from March 2018, 2019 and 2020. In March of 2018 and 2019, streaming was at its heights at 8 a.m., and then decreased at 9 a.m. However, March 2020 displayed a very different user pattern compared to the previous two years. At 9 a.m., the streaming service was used at a similar rate in all three years.
However, there was a major difference in how much the streaming service was used in the afternoon. Users used the streaming service more between 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. in 2020 compared to the afternoons of the previous years.
[Figure 5] Melon usage by the hour in March over the past three years (Mar. 2018, 2019 and 2020)The same trend can be observed for content usage on Kakao Page, in which content consumption decreased in the morning and increased in the afternoon. We compared the number of people who visited Kakao Page by the hour in March and April of 2019 and 2020. In March and April of 2019, the number of Kakao Page users increased in the early morning and decreased as the day progressed. However, data from March and April of 2020 showed that the usage of Kakao Page decreased in the early morning and increased in the afternoon.
[Figure 6] KakaoPage visitors by the hour (January, March and April of 2019 &2020)# Upward trend in afternoon usage also seen in AI services
The upward trend of increased usage in the afternoon was also seen in Hey Kakao. We tracked the hourly user data of Hey Kakao by looking into the number of utterances (Refer to Figure 2-7). The number of utterances represents the number of times users said a command into Kakao Mini, the AI speaker. The number of utterances made to Hey Kakao during the daytime was noticeably higher in March, April and May (in blue colors) than January, February and June. We also saw a decrease in the usage of Hey Kakao in June, when social distancing restrictions were relaxed, with a decrease continuing into September.
[Figure 7] Usage of Hey Kakao by the hour per month (No. of utterances, Jan. 2020 to Jun. 2020)# Increase in alarms set during the daytime with AI speakers
Figure 2-8 shows alarms that were set at specific hours of the day using Hey Kakao on March and May of 2019 and 2020 respectively. Less alarms were set for morning hours, while more alarms were set for afternoon hours in March and May of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019. There is no simple reason to describe the outcome. The need for alarms may have increased because people were waking up later than before or were at home more in the afternoon. However, we know for sure that COVID-19 definitely affected the time alarms were set using AI speakers.
[Figure 8] Alarms set at each hour of the day using Hey Kakao (Mar. and May of 2019 and 2020)# More active digital prosumers and music consumption
Let’s take a look at data from several of Kakao's social media services. First, we will look at Brunch. More people have uploaded content on Brunch since the beginning of COVID-19. Uploads increased up to 52% on the second week of May, compared to early January. The number of writers have continued to increase steadily since May 2020.
[Figure 9] Content writers in Brunch (Weekly, Feb. 2020 to Jun. 2020)We decided to analyze hashtags to understand the content writers were uploading onto Brunch while they were experiencing COVID-19. Figure 2-10 is a word cloud made up of words that were frequently used in tags attached to Brunch postings that were uploaded during the second quarter of 2020. The most frequently used tags included words that were related to COVID-19, such as work-from-home, face masks and coronavirus. COVID-19 is imbedded in almost every digital prosumers’ content as we live our lives during COVID-19.
[Figure 10] Word cloud of words that frequent tags in Brunch postings (Apr. to Jun., 2020)The number of people who posted content on Daum Cafe has increased remarkably since the pandemic started. The number of writers posting on Daum Cafe in May increased by more than 20% compared to that of early January, and it has risen steadily as of September.
[Figure 11] Content writers in Daum Cafe (Weekly, Feb. 2020 to Jun. 2020)Since February, we can see that users are consuming music more actively through Melon. There are three criteria users rely on when selecting music to stream on Melon. Users use the Melon Charts (this method is no longer supported as of the date this analysis was made), playlists and search to find music. We took a look at how each method was used between February and June of 2020. Since music consumption increased in February, more and more users are transitioning into more active ways to find music, such as using search or playlists (DJ playlist, For U), rather than relying on charts.
[Figure 12] Methods used to select music streamed with Melon (Weekly, Feb. 2020 to Jun. 2020)Data Analysis and Methodology
- The Kakao COVID-19 Report analyzes data retrieved from multiple Kakao community and lifestyle services, including Kakao Talk, news, search, media∙contents, mobility, e-commerce, fintech, artificial intelligence and social impact.
- Methodology: The data are presented in the form of a graph to show proportional data or percentages, (%) in order to illustrate the changes that occurred before and after COVID-19. The data were retrieved from (either the first week or the entire month of) January to June 2020 and for some analyses, to September 2020. Some data were excluded.
- Example: The graph below shows that the number of users increased by 50% on the fourth week of April, compared to the number of users in the first week of January 2020. On the y-axis, values above zero (0) represent an increase in frequency, whereas values below zero (0) represent a decrease in frequency.
Kakao COVID-19 Report
Part 1: COVID-19 and Kakao Data
Kakao aims for the results of the Kakao COVID-19 Report to serve as a resouce in overcoming times of crisis. We hope that the implications of our data analyses will be used in building wise and resilient strategies or policies to navigate uncertainties and explore new business opportunities.
All copyrights of the Kakao COVID-19 Report are reserved by Kakao Corporation. Kakao Corporation strictly prohibits the use of the Kakao COVID-19 Report for promotional, sales, or marketing purposes. Kakao Corporation authorizes the reproduction and use of the Kakao COVID-19 Report within the scope of the Copyright Act, provided that all copyrights are fully disclosed.
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