Online advertising expenditure in South Korea 2015-2025

In 2023, around *** trillion South Korean won were spent on online advertising in South Korea. This represents an increase from the previous years and continues a trend of yearly growth. Online ad spending has more than doubled since 2015. It was forecast that spending will continue to increase in the upcoming years, exceeding ** trillion won by 2024. 

Search advertising

According to a 2023 survey, several types of online advertising are among the most commonly used sources to find new brands, products, and services. The leading source, search engines, refers to ads placed among the results on search engine websites. In the PC advertising sector, this was the leading type of online advertisement by spending, while the mobile advertising sector shows a preference for display advertising.

Online video advertising

While video giant YouTube continues to hold onto its prevalence, an increase in the popularity of streaming sites and short-form video platforms such as TikTok has led to an increased interest in online video advertising. These advertisements can take many forms, from traditional ads as seen on TV to product placement or sponsorships of events or individuals. In the short span of time between January 2020 and July 2022, the South Korean advertising industry increased its spending on online video ads by nearly ** percent. YouTube was the leading platform for online video advertising by far, with about **** billion won spent on such ads in July 2024 alone.