[Getty Images Bank]
[Getty Images Bank]

Television advertising continues to outperform ads on YouTube and SNS platforms at every stage of the consumer journey, from initial awareness to purchase intent.

According to the "2026 Media Usage Behavior Survey" released Wednesday by the Korea Broadcast Advertising Corporation (KOBACO), TV advertising ranked first among eight major ad channels in all three core effectiveness indicators: ad recall, ad credibility and purchase intent.

The survey compared advertising effectiveness across eight channels — TV, YouTube, internet search and banner ads, SNS, radio, newspapers and magazines, outdoor advertising, and online video services (OTT). It was conducted online from June 5 to 10 among 3,000 adults aged 20 to 64 nationwide.

TV advertising topped the ad recall category with a response rate of 31.7 percent, more than 6 percentage points ahead of YouTube at 25.6 percent.

[Korea Broadcast Advertising Corporation]
[Korea Broadcast Advertising Corporation]

TV also led in ad credibility — the share of respondents who found ads trustworthy — at 18.5 percent, while most major digital platforms fell below 10 percent: YouTube at 8.2 percent, SNS at 7.8 percent and OTT at 9.1 percent. TV similarly topped the purchase intent category, with 30.8 percent of respondents saying they had felt the urge to buy a product after seeing an ad.

TV also posted the highest media influence index score among the eight channels at 46.1 points. The index converts responses across four advertising effectiveness questions — ad recall, ad credibility, purchase intent and search intent — into a 100-point scale. YouTube came second at 42.9 points, followed by internet search and banner ads at 41.6 points and SNS at 39.8 points.

"This survey shows that TV is the medium that cuts across every stage of the consumer journey, from awareness and trust to purchase," a KOBACO official said. "Advertisers looking to maximize advertising effectiveness need to place TV at the center of their media strategy."

Meanwhile, the survey found that YouTube had the longest daily average usage time, with the largest share of respondents reporting about two hours per day. For internet portals, about one hour was most common, while TV, SNS and OTT each saw the highest share of respondents reporting less than one hour. More than half of respondents said they did not use radio or newspapers and magazines at all.

In terms of ad exposure over the past month, YouTube and internet search and banner ads both recorded contact rates of 80 percent. Among respondents in their 20s, YouTube showed a relatively high ad contact rate, while those in their 30s reported higher exposure to OTT advertising.


balme@heraldcorp.com