OpenAI's ChatGPT has surpassed 10 million monthly active users (MAU) in South Korea. Starting with the image generation feature, the number of paid membership subscribers has increased, making it the top-ranked app in terms of app market revenue. As user numbers diverge from other artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots, analysts suggest that it has solidified its dominance in the domestic AI chatbot market.
According to the mobile analytics platform MobileIndex, the monthly active user count for the ChatGPT app in South Korea reached 10,722,227 last month. Compared to the 5,090,965 users in March, the number of users nearly doubled in just one month, marking the first time the MAU has exceeded 10 million in the country.
In particular, the daily active user count (DAU) for ChatGPT surpassed a record high of 3,171,415 on the 3rd of last month. This figure is based solely on mobile app usage, and the actual number of users may be higher when including PC users.
The surge in ChatGPT's user numbers appears to be influenced by the image generation feature based on GPT-4o, which led to the 'Ghibli meme.' Released at the end of March this year, this feature gained public interest as it can create images in the style of the Japanese animation studio 'Studio Ghibli.' Sharing Ghibli-style images made with ChatGPT on social media platforms like KakaoTalk, Instagram, and X has become a trend. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, also engaged in Ghibli marketing by setting a Ghibli-style image of his face as his profile picture on X.
Thanks to its popularity, ChatGPT has also recorded high rankings in the app market revenue charts. According to MobileIndex, ChatGPT first ranked No. 1 in overall app revenue on Google Play last month. During the same period, the Apple App Store ranked it No. 2 in revenue after YouTube. This rise in rankings can be attributed to an increase in new paid subscribers through app payments. The GPT-4o-based image generation feature has different daily usage limits by membership type. Free users can generate a maximum of three images per day, but there are no limits for Plus (approximately 29,000 won) or higher paid membership subscribers.
AI chatbots have moved beyond simple assistive functions and are now essential tools for practical problem-solving and productivity enhancement. However, the user numbers of other AI chatbots remain stagnant, solidifying the 'ChatGPT dominance' system. The AI chatbot 'adot' developed by SK Telecom reported an MAU of just 1,520,000 last month. The MAU for 'wrtn,' operated by the startup Ruudentech, recorded 1,020,000 last month, remaining in the 1 million range. During the same period, the MAU for the American AI company Perplexity stood at 705,464, Microsoft's Copilot had 159,114, and Anthropic's Claude (estimated only for Android) had 45,239.
Professor Kim Myung-joo of Seoul Women's University said, "AI chatbots are also a marketing battle between apps," noting, "While technology is important, understanding consumer preferences and effectively targeting them is crucial. From this perspective, ChatGPT's Ghibli marketing has had a significant impact globally." He continued, "In the early market, first-mover advantage is essential, and it seems ChatGPT is solidifying its position in the domestic market. As latecomers may find the competition more challenging, it is important for domestic corporations to find niche markets by supplementing areas where ChatGPT does not perform well."