'Even Animation Can Be Boring If It’s Too Long': State Agency Report

연합뉴스 / 2024-10-30 07:44:50

▲ This chart, compiled in the 2024 Animation Industry White Paper, shows data about the most preferred length of an animation content. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

SEOUL, Oct. 30 (Yonhap) -- With more people tiring of lengthy videos and texts, animation viewers also show a preference for shorter episodes, ideally around 20 minutes.

According to the "2024 Animation Industry White Paper" recently published by the Korea Creative Content Agency on the 30th, 33.6% of animation users preferred episodes lasting "20 to under 30 minutes." This was followed by "30 to under 60 minutes" (22.7%), "60 to under 90 minutes" (16.0%), and "10 to under 20 minutes" (13.5%).

The survey was conducted among 3,500 men and women aged 10 to 69 who had watched animation at least once in the past year.

▲ This chart, compiled in the 2024 Animation Industry White Paper, shows data about the most preferred viewing platforms. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

The trend was more pronounced among children aged 3 to 9, with 30% favoring episodes under 20 minutes and preferences for "20 to under 30 minutes" (22.8%) and "3 to under 10 minutes" (18.4%).

The preference for shorter animations appears to be influenced by the shift in viewing platforms. Among animation viewers, those favoring ad-supported online video platforms like YouTube and TikTok have increased. In this year’s survey, 76.1% chose OTT (streaming) services for animation, down from 79.2% last year, while internet video service users rose from 43.6% to 53.1%. Among teenagers and those in their twenties, 6 out of 10 respondents preferred these short-video platforms.

The increase in animation viewers on platforms like TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Reels has led the webtoon industry to invest in "short-form" animation.

Kakao Entertainment is developing an AI tool, "Helix Shorts," designed to condense webtoon plots into videos by matching images with AI-generated summaries.

According to CTO Kim Ki-beom, this process, which typically takes around three weeks manually, can be completed in three hours for approximately 50,000 won using AI.

Naver Webtoon is also recruiting staff in North America and China to expand its short-form content creation based on webtoon IP.