US-based social media platforms YouTube and Instagram saw their usage time among South Korean app users rise sharply in September from a year earlier, data showed, while locally based platforms like KakaoTalk and Naver lost ground.

The total hours spent by Korean users on YouTube, the most popular app here, came to 1.8 billion hours in September, up 9.5 percent from a year earlier, according to data compiled by industry tracker Wiseapp.

Instagram also saw its combined usage time reach 378 million hours last month, soaring 42.1 percent on-year, making it the third most popular app by usage time.

However, the No. 2 app here, KakaoTalk, saw its usage time decline 3.3 percent to 527 million hours over the period. Naver, the country’s leading search engine, also experienced a 9.7 percent on-year decrease, with its total usage hours reaching 329 million last month Industry watchers said YouTube and Instagram encouraged users here to spend more time on their platforms through short-form videos, referring to entertainment content lasting only a few seconds. (Yonhap)