More searches for pharmacies
Kakao COVID-19 Report, Part 6
The Kakao COVID-19 Report uses Kakao’s service data to give us a 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.
Part 2 provides a more in-depth analysis by focusing on media and content consumption.
Part 3 is an observation of changes in peoples’ lives at home, seen with e-commerce and healthcare service data.
Part 4 is about how people moved around during COVID-19, by looking at data from mobility services.
Part 5 uses data to show how mobility patterns have changed during our daily lives and while we travel during COVID-19.
Search volumes and patterns are often analyzed to predict social interests and daily trends. Kakao offers Kakao Data Trends to provide users with clear data on search words that are trending on Kakao's many services.
Kakao operates many search services, including Kakao Talk (# Search) and Daum (mobile and PC versions). In Part 6, we will take a look at search data from # Search, Daum mobile search and Daum PC search to identify the various interests people have today. In order to pinpoint data that are specific to today’s life with COVID-19, we compared the volume and patterns of searches in March of 2019 and 2020.
Let’s take a look at how interests have changed before and after the pandemic by analyzing search volumes and search users according to 14 categories.
※ 14 categories
Health, games, arts/culture, education, news/magazines, books, broadcasting, life/hobbies, shopping, sports/leisure, travel, music, cars, investment.
#1. Health: More searches for ‘pharmacies’, less for ‘weight loss’
The number of users who searched for health or hospital-related information increased from the previous year. The number of users who searched for health-related information in # Search, Daum mobile search and Daum PC search increased by 139%, 156% and 35% respectively. Users who searched for hospital-related information in # Search, Daum mobile search and Daum PC search increased by 249%, 152% and 25%. The number of users who searched the word “pharmacy” via mobile search increased by 1354%. Meanwhile, users who searched for information on weight loss via mobile or PC search decreased by 68% and 88% respectively. A similar trend can be seen in terms of search volume.
[Figure 1-1] Number of users searching for health content (Mar. 2019 vs. Mar. 2020)
[Figure 1-2] Volume of search queries on health (Mar. 2019 vs. Mar. 2020)#2. Games: More searches for gaming websites
While we saw a decline in the number of users who made gaming-related searches, the number of users who searched for gaming websites increased by 335% in # Search, 229% in Daum mobile search and 160% in Daum PC search. The increase in searches made on # Search for gaming websites is extremely noticeable in the COVID-19 period.
[Figure 2-1] Number of users searching for gaming content (Mar. 2019 vs. Mar. 2020)
[Figure 2-2] Volume of search queries on gaming (Mar. 2019 vs. Mar. 2020)#3. Performing arts: Increase in searches for musicals/concerts, decrease in searches for plays
While the number of users who searched for plays decreased, searches for musicals (# Search 393%, Daum mobile search 402% and Daum PC search 284%) and concerts (# Search -31%, Daum mobile search 589% and Daum PC search 586%) increased greatly. Our analysis shows that searches for musicals and concerts increased because more and more people searched for whether or not the musicals and concerts were canceled due to COVID-19.
[Figure 3-1] Number of users searching for performing arts content (Mar. 2019 vs. Mar. 2020)
[Figure 3-2] Volume of search queries on performing arts (Mar. 2019 vs. Mar. 2020)#4. Education: Increase in searches for educational information and private education
The number of users searching for general information on schools such as the first and last days of school, increased (# Search 526%, Daum mobile search 74%, Daum PC search 23%), as did the number of users entering queries for private education (# Search 147%, Daum mobile search 71%, Daum PC search 104%). On the other hand, the number of users searching school and university rankings decreased (Daum mobile search -28%, Daum PC search -41%). Similar trends were also observed in terms of search volume for this category.
[Figure 4-1] Number of users searching for education content (Mar. 2019 vs. Mar. 2020)
[Figure 4-2] Volume of search queries on education (Mar. 2019 vs. Mar. 2020)#5. News/magazine: Increase in search users and search volume for news content
In March 2020, more users searched news and magazine content compared to March 2019. The number of users who conducted a mobile search for news services, including news curation, increased by 329%. The volume of searches made on mobile platforms for newspapers/magazines (308%) and communities (345%) also increased.
[Figure 5-1] Number of users searching for news/magazine content (Mar. 2019 vs. Mar. 2020)
[Figure 5-2] Volume of search queries on news/magazines (Mar. 2019 vs. Mar. 2020)#6. Books: More searches for books, bookstores and online communities
We saw an overall increase in users who searched for books (# Search 71%, Daum mobile search 122%, Daum PC search 105%), bookstores (Daum mobile search 176%, Daum PC search 82%) and online communities/websites (# Search 222%, Daum mobile search 274%, Daum PC search 159%). The online communities and websites mentioned in this analysis refer to platforms such as Daum Webtoons. Meanwhile, the number of users searching for cartoons and web novels (genres include romance novels and fan fictions) decreased, showing a stark contrast to other searches in the book category.
Similar trends were also observed for search volume in this category. The amount of searches made on Daum PC search in the cartoon/web novel category reduced by 50% during COVID-19, compared to the year before. Our analysis shows that people decided to pick up a good book they could enjoy at home to respect social distancing measures. More users also searched and purchased books through online bookstores.
[Figure 6-1] Number of users searching for book content (Mar. 2019 vs. Mar. 2020)
[Figure 6-2] Volume of search queries on books (Mar. 2019 vs. Mar. 2020)#7. Broadcasting: More searches for programs, channels and community information
In the broadcasting category, there was a noticeable change in the number of users who searched for communities/websites such as Afreeka TV and Youtube (# Search 314%, Daum mobile search 287% and Daum PC search 161%) and programs/channels (Daum mobile search 468% and Daum PC search 241%) There was a decrease in the number of users who searched for programs/channels with # Search by 84%, as well as the number of users who searched for broadcasting listings (Daum mobile search -76%, Daum PC search -72%). Searches for broadcasting listings decreased because people watched less real-time TV and more uploaded videos. This is evident seeing the increase in searches for online communities and websites such as Afreeca TV and Youtube.
[Figure 7-1] Number of users searching for broadcasting content (Mar. 2019 vs. Mar. 2020)
[Figure 7-2] Volume of search queries on broadcasting (Mar. 2019 vs. Mar. 2020)#8. Living/hobbies: Massive increase in users using # Search to search fortune / dream interpretations
The most visible change in the living and hobbies category is an exponential leap, or a 2098% increase in the number of users who searched for fortune readings/dream interpretations on # Search. The volume of searches for living and hobbies on # Search increased throughout the entire category, including living information (573%), fortune readings/dream interpretation (419%), home decoration (694%), hobbies (753%) and online communities, (433%) such as mom cafes.
[Figure 8-1] Number of users searching for living/hobbies content (Mar. 2019 vs. Mar. 2020)
[Figure 8-2] Volume of search queries on living/hobbies (Mar. 2019 vs. Mar. 2020)#9. Shopping: More searches for shopping, less for gift cards
For shopping-related searches, the greatest increase in the number of search users was detected in the gift (# Search 328%, Daum mobile search 212%, Daum PC search 45%), sports/leisure (# Search 174%, Daum mobile search 251%, Daum PC search 119%) and groceries (# Search 266%, Daum mobile search 339%, Daum PC search 2%) categories. What’s interesting is that the number of users who searched for home appliances through the Daum PC version increased by an exponential 378%. This is presumably because consumers spent more time at home during the pandemic and used the money they would usually spend on travels on new purchase.
Meanwhile, the number of users who searched for gift cards decreased (# Search -67%, Daum mobile search 10%, Daum PC search -26%) compared to the previous year. Another interesting fact is that searches made on # Search for industrial tools increased significantly, with 239% more search users and 424% more search volume. This upward trend is most likely linked to the popularity of DIY goods. (Refer to “Kakao COVID-19 Report Part 3”)
[Figure 9-1] Number of users searching for shopping content (Mar. 2019 vs. Mar. 2020)
[Figure 9-2] Volume of search queries on shopping (Mar. 2019 vs. Mar. 2020)#10. Sports/leisure: More searches for lotteries, less for sports
For sports and leisure-related searches, there was a steep increase in searches for lotteries (# Search 339%, Daum mobile search 221%, Daum PC search 114%) and horse/bicycle racing (Daum mobile search 71%, Daum PC search 32%), while the number of users searching for sporting games (# Search -79%, Daum mobile search -72%, Daum PC search -94%) decreased. The number of users searching for lotteries increased significantly, with a 339% increase in # Search and a 221% increase in Daum mobile search. The same trend was observed in search volume, where searches for entertainment sports content, such as horse and bicycle racing and lotteries, increased, whereas the search volume of sports events decreased.
[Figure 10-1] Number of users searching for sports content (Mar. 2019 vs. Mar. 2020)
[Figure 10-2] Volume of search queries on sports (Mar. 2019 vs. Mar. 2020)#11-1. Travel (domestic): Less searches for travel to the metropolitan area, more to non-urban areas
There was a visible decline in the number of users who searched for travel information on the metropolitan area, which includes Seoul and Gyeonggi-do. Users who searched for non-metropolitan areas increased, with an 183% increase in searches for Chungcheong-do and an 727% increase for Jeolla-do (in # Search). Searches for Jeolla-do saw the greatest increase in terms of both the number of users (727%) and search volume (814%). This demonstrates that more people preferred to travel to non-metropolitan areas that are less populated and closer to nature.
[Figure 11-1] Number of users searching for domestic travel content (Mar. 2019 vs. Mar. 2020)
[Figure 11-2] Volume of search queries on domestic travel (Mar. 2019 vs. Mar. 2020)# 11-2. Travel (international): More searches for China
COVID-19 indeed had an impact on searches related to international travel. There was an exponential leap in the number of users who searched for China (# Search 866%, Daum mobile search 1791%, Daum PC search 603%), while there was a slight decrease in the number of users who searched for Japan (# Search -22%, Daum mobile search -17%, Daum PC search -70%).
[Figure 11-3] Number of users searching for international travel content (Mar. 2019 vs. Mar. 2020)
[Figure 11-4] Volume of search queries on international travel (Mar. 2019 vs. Mar. 2020)#12. Music: More searches for music broadcasts, music videos
There was a greater increase in the number of users who searched for music videos (Daum mobile search 1594%, Daum PC search 222%) and music broadcasts (# Search 623%, Daum mobile search 2301%, Daum PC search 1512%), than the number of users who searched for music genres (# Search 229, Daum mobile search 385%, Daum PC search 96%) and music information (# Search 66%, Daum mobile search 97%, Daum PC search 51%). The volume of mobile searches for music videos increased by 1933%. While the volume of PC searches was minimal in the other categories, for music broadcasts, it increased by a great 1,531%.
[Figure 12-1] Number of users searching for music content (Mar. 2019 vs. Mar. 2020)
[Figure 12-2] Volume of search queries on music (Mar. 2019 vs. Mar. 2020)#13. Automobiles: More searches for car purchase and accessories, less for rental cars
In regards to searches for cars, there was a greater yearly increase in the number of users who searched for domestic cars (# Search 337%, Daum mobile search 298%, Daum PC search 240%), imported cars (# Search 390%, Daum mobile search 249%, Daum PC search 133%) and used (Daum mobile search 290%, Daum PC search 157%) than the previous year. The number of users who used # Search to search for car accessories also increased (331%). Meanwhile, the number of users who searched for rental cars decreased in both mobile search (-43%) and PC search (-15%).
People’s awareness on safety grew during COVID-19, and this has resulted in a rise in demand for personal automobiles that ensure personal safety and prevent contact with others in comparison to public transportation.
[Figure 13-1] Number of users searching for automobile content (Mar. 2019 vs. Mar. 2020)
[Figure 13-2] Volume of search queries on automobiles(Mar. 2019 vs. Mar. 2020)#14-1. Investment (financial products): More searches for credit cards, less mobile searches for loans
In regards to searches for financial products, both the number of search users and the search volume made on # Search, increased by 132% and 425% respectively for searches on loans. On the other hand, mobile searches (search users -39%, search volume -7%) and PC searches (search users -6%, search volume 13%) for loans decreased slightly.
[Figure 14-1] Number of users searching for financial products (Mar. 2019 vs. Mar. 2020)
[Figure 14-2] Volume of search queries on financial products (Mar. 2019 vs. Mar. 2020)# 14-2. Investments (real-estate): Increase in search for transactions, fueled by high interest in real-estate
For real-estate, both the number of users (# Search 253%, Daum mobile search 375%, Daum PC search 236%) and search volume (# Search 425%, Daum mobile search 330%, Daum PC search 185%) for real-estate transactions have increased. The number of users who searched for real-estate information (# Search 65%, Daum mobile search 165%, Daum PC search 85%) and relevant online communities and websites (Daum mobile search 36%, Daum PC search 108%) such as the online registry, increased. However, there were not as many users who searched for real-estate transactions.
[Figure 14-3] Number of users searching for real-estate content (Mar. 2019 vs. Mar. 2020)
[Figure 14-4] Volume of search queries on real-estate (Mar. 2019 vs. Mar. 2020)# 14-3. Investments (transaction information): More searches for companies, stock price and exchange rate
The number of users who searched for information on companies (# Search 330%, Daum mobile search 132%, Daum PC search 89%), stock prices (Daum mobile search 172%, Daum PC search 127%) and exchange rates (# Search 110%, Daum mobile search 238%, Daum PC search 108%) increased. However, the number of users who searched for information on oil prices (Daum mobile search 29%, Daum PC search 51%) and interest rates (Daum mobile search -4%, Daum PC search 32%) did not fluctuate as much. As the data above shows, people were more interested in companies, stock prices and exchange rates than interest rates and oil prices. The number of search users and the search volume demonstrated below support our analysis.
[Figure 14-5] Number of users searching for transaction information content (Mar. 2019 vs. Mar. 2020
[Figure 14-6] Volume of search queries on transaction information (Mar. 2019 vs. Mar. 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
Part 4: Traffic Jams during COVID-19
Part 5: Tory Stores over Theme Parks
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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