Say anyong to television sets and anyong to mobile devices. Smartphones and tablet PCs are taking over as the dominant way to watch TV in South Korea.
South Koreans are scaling down how many TVs they own, according to a study conducted by the Korea Information Society Development Institute. There has been a growing trend of consumers who have tossed their outdated TVs due to the end of analog broadcasting in 2012 and never bothered to buy a new one.
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Instead, they are finding the convenience of portable technology to be more desirable.
In a recent door-to-door nationwide survey conducted by the institute, among the 5,000 participant households, that 77 percent of households own only one television set, which increased from 71 percent in 2012, and 69 percent in 2011.
The institute also reported that only 37 percent of the households owned analog TVs compared to 57 percent in 2011. The other 63 percent of consumers owned digital TVs.
With consumers no longer interested in a house full of TVs, the number of smartphone users was estimated to be about 38 million out of a population of 50 million people, or smartphone penetration of 76%, at the end of January.
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