Korea 2012: an Overview of Trends

PRODUCT

2012년 12월 28일 Sue J. Hur

With 2013 coming in less than one week, Google released its annual analysis of the most searched terms, top movies, top travel destinations, top celebrities and top news of the year called Google Zeitgeist 2012.

Here are some of Korea-specific trends mentioned in the Google Zeitgeist 2012:

Top Searches

Countries in Red: Gangnam Style ranked no.1

Countries in Green: Gangnam Style ranked no.2

Not surprisingly, ‘Gangnam Style’ was the most searched term on Google in Korea. ‘Gangnam Style’ was also ranked first in Australia, Indonesia, and United Arab Emirates, and came second in Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam. Gangnam Style was in top 10 songs of 2012 across most countries. PSY’s Gangnam Style was the second most searched in the world after Whitney Houston, followed by Hurricane Sandy.

After Gangnam Style, the top searches in Korea was followed by a series of Korean soap operas such as ‘Haerul Pumeun Dal’, ‘Fashion King’ and ‘Dream High 2’, respectively, with ‘Diablo 3’ standing at number 5.

The London Olympics ranked sixth in the top searches while another soap opera, ‘A Gentleman’s Dignity’ as ranked seventh. Whitney Houston was also one of the most searched term in 2012, with ‘KakaoStory’ ranked ninth respectively in the top searches list. The clothing brand ‘The North Face’ was ranked tenth.

Top Games

Anypang Gameplay

We looked at the list of trending games on Google, and we found that Diablo 3, one of the most anticipated game in 2012 was indeed ranked first. League of Legends was ranked second.

‘AnyPang’, Korea’s hottest game at the moment was ranked third place. A video clip of the gameplay can be found here. The AnyPang phenomenon has brought nationwide attention to the game, with people of all ages seem to play in Korea, unlike Diablo and League of Legends, which has a loyal yet limited user pool.

‘Sudden Attack’, another Korean game from Nexon, was rnked fourth, with ‘Shinsundo’ was ranked fifth. At sixth place, we have ‘DragonFlight’, with ‘Cyphers’, another Nexon game, at seventh place. We have a Korean game, ‘Rule the Sky’ in eighth place, and ‘Maple Story’ at ninth place. ‘Blade & Soul’ came tenth.

Top Electronic Devices

Samsung Galaxy Series

beSUCCESS observed the list of top electronic devices on Google, one thing that will stand out is that the Samsung Galaxy series still rules the country with six of the top ten electronic devices searches being Samsung products. Galaxy Note topped the charts for top electronic devices followed by Galaxy S3, Galaxy Beam, and Galaxy M Style, respectively.

Other searches in the list include LG Optimus View at fifth place, Galaxy Note 2 following close as sixth place, Prada Phone 3.0 as seventh, iPad 3 as eighth, iPhone 4S as ninth, and Galaxy Nexus as tenth.