Knowing the Facts on COVID-19
Kakao COVID-19 Report, Part 7
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.
Part 6 identifies peoples’ various social interests by analyzing search data.
People have made various COVID-19-related searches as our daily lives have undergone great changes. They search for all kinds of relevant keywords about COVID-19, such as testing sites and government-issued relief funds to get accurate information. They also search for face masks, hand sanitizers and other personal protective equipment (PPE) to purchase online. People spend a large amount of time online in collecting and sharing information on COVID-19.
In Part 7, we will talk about the level of interest people have for information on COVID-19 and PPEs.
Let’s begin by observing how interested people were in the news during COVID-19.
#More news viewers during COVID-19 than the presidential election
Prior to 2020, the highest number of weekly views on Daum News was recorded in May 2017, during South Korea’s 19th presidential election. COVID-19 broke this record. Using the first week of January 2020 as reference, the number of views on Daum News increased by 29% in February and 67% in March of 2020. News consumption returned to the annual average after April 2020.
[Reference] The South Korea-China-Japan Trilateral Summit marked on Figure 1 was the first summit to be held by the three countries since negotiations were suspended after the ASEAN Plus Three summit on November 2017.
[Figure 1] Monthly views on Daum News since 2017 (Jan. 2017 to Jun. 2020)# Sharp increase in COVID-19 information searches through Hey Kakao
Let’s now take a look at how people used Hey Kakao, a service that provides information from Kakao Talk, Melon and other Kakao services, as well as major news content, through its AI speakers, to find information on COVID-19. The number of users who asked Hey Kakao about “coronavirus”, “confirmed cases”, “masks”, “disinfection”, “infection” and “symptoms” escalated after a super-spreader patient was detected on the fourth week of February. By the first week of March, the number of user utterances made to Hey Kakao about COVID-19 increased 2382% compared to the first week of January. The same trend was observed for news consumption with Hey Kakao, where utterances about COVID-19 keywords gradually decreased after April, as the pandemic prolonged.
[Figure 2] Number of users who used Hey Kakao to ask about COVID-19keywords (Jan. 2020 to Jun. 2020)#KakaoMap used to find information on COVID-19
In response to the spread of COVID-19, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) released detailed information on the movement of confirmed cases. The government also initiated the face mask rationing program, which further emphasized the importance of being informed about the virus. We took a closer look at COVID-19-related information that users searched for on KakaoMap.
Since testing sites is at the front lines of COVID-19 prevention, we first analyzed the number of times COVID-19 testing sites were searched on KakaoMap. The first testing site was erected at the end of January, when South Korea had its first confirmed case of COVID-19. South Korea now has 596 testing site throughout the country. The highest number of searches, approximately 400,000 searches for “testing sites” on KakaoMap was recorded on the fifth week of January, when the first testing site became available. Since then, the average number of searches for testing sites dropped to below 50000 per week, and has maintained that level at the time we analyzed the data (end of June 2020).
[Figure 3] Volume of searches on Kakao Map for testing sites (Jan. 2020 to Jun. 2020)We then analyzed searches for the emergency coronavirus relief fund, which was the most popular issue in May. Applications for the Emergency Coronavirus Relief Fund was accepted through online and offline channels and payment for the funds was first determined on March 30. The South Korean government announced details for a second supplementary budget bill on April 16 after the 21st general election, then accepted applications starting on May 11 and started payments on May 13.
Following searches then shifted onto find stores where users could spend the relief funds. If we look at the volume of searches on Kakao Map that are related to the Emergency Coronavirus Relief Fund, there were 112 searches during the second week of April, when the detailed plan was announced. The number of searches gradually increased and reached 450,000 searches by the end of May.
[Figure 4] Volume of searches on Kakao Map related to Emergency Coronavirus Relief FundOne of the most popular COVID-related keyword was “rationed face masks”. When the Coronavirus started to spread in early February, people were told that face masks helped prevent Coronavirus infection. This resulted in a public frenzy to procure face masks. The South Korean government launched the face mask rationing initiative on March 9, then maintained a five-day rotation face mask distribution system until June 1, and allowed unrestricted purchasing of face masks on July 11.
More than 14 million searches related to rationed face masks or the face mask policy were made on Kakao Map on the second week of March, when the policy was put into effect, proving Korean’s high level of interest in finding face masks. The search volume was highest during the third week of March, with 15.7 million searches and it started to decrease as the face mask rationing plan stabilized.
[Figure 5] Volume of searches on Kakao Map related to rationed face masks (Jan. 2020 to Jun. 2020)#Kakao Talk Channel subscriptions about COVID-19
Kakao Talk Channels were also used to provide consistent information on COVID-19. Kakao Talk’s Emergency Employment Fund Channel was launched on May 21 and had 14 subscribers by May 25. The Emergency Employment Fund Channel started to take off when hundreds of new subscribers subscribed on June 2. By the end of June, the channel recorded a total of 3,700 subscribers and is still steadily growing to this day.
[Figure 6] No. of emergency employment fund channel subscribers (Jan. 2020 to Jun. 2020)The COVID-19 Map (COVID-19 Notification) Channel, which provides information on COVID-19 such as confirmed cases, raked in 100,000 new subscribers during the first week since its launch. An additional 10,000 users subscribed to the channel when the super-spreading case of Patient 31 was detected in Daegu. As of the end of June, there were a total of 95,000 subscribers subscribed to the COVID-19 Map Channel.
[Figure 7] No. of COVID-19 Map channel subscribers (Jan. 2020 to Jun. 2020)The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) Channel had 300,000 subscribers as of January 1, 2020. However, 600,000 more users subscribed to the channel in February alone, resulting in 1 million subscribers total. The greatest number of users, of around 50,000 daily, was recorded to have subscribed to the channel when the numbers of new patients increased due to the super-spreading case of Patient 31.
[Figure 8] Number of KDCA channel subscribers (Jan. 2020 to Jun. 2020)# Searching and purchasing PPE online
Personal protective equipment (PPE), including face masks and hand sanitizers, started to sell out and disappear from shelves in stores and pharmacies as the virus spread. People had no choice but to search and purchase necessities through the Internet. Let’s look at data from Kakao Talk Gift, the online e-commerce channel, to learn more about the face mask and hand sanitizer situation during COVID-19. While the search volume for hand sanitizers was 100 searches at the most in 2019, during January and February 2020, searches for hand sanitizers recorded a monthly average of over 30,000.
[Figure 9] Volume of searches made on KakaoTalk Gift for face masks / hand sanitizersData 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
Part 6: More Searches for Pharmacies
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.
Click below buttons to download PDF version of the Kakao COVID-19 Report.
