OpenAI and Google are spending heavily to win over South Korean AI users, using tactics that resemble the country's past telecom subscriber wars. The two companies are placing ads on popular YouTube channels, buying digital billboard space in downtown Seoul, and offering free or discounted subscriptions to university students - all in a bid to lock in paid customers before the generative AI market matures.
On the 24th, singer Shawn appeared on the YouTube channel "Shawn and Together" (around 500,000 subscribers) holding a smartphone. The channel primarily produces running-related content, but this time it featured a conversation with Google's Gemini AI. Shawn asked Gemini about the possibility of achieving a sub-3-hour marathon finish despite injuries, the rest period needed for recovery, and a weekly diet plan. Gemini accurately recognized his voice and provided the necessary information.
ChatGPT vs. Gemini: a marketing battle
OpenAI, which established OpenAI Korea in September last year, has recently released a series of video ads under the theme "ChatGPT for Everything." Titled "When Moving to a New Home," "On Moving Day," and "Every Moment Toward Your Goal," each ad is 31 seconds long. The video "When Moving to a New Home," uploaded on YouTube on July 23, had surpassed 13.43 million views as of the morning of August 27. The other two videos recorded 6.28 million and 3.4 million views, respectively.
Google has countered with a promotion offering domestic university students a one-year free subscription to the Gemini paid membership. Students aged 18 or older can register a Google account via school email to use the "Google AI Plus" membership, priced at 11,000 Korean won per month, free for one year. The "Google AI Pro" membership, priced at 29,000 Korean won per month, can be used for up to four years at a 74% discount. Google had previously offered a one-year free benefit for "Google AI Pro" to domestic university students and graduate students last year.
Both companies also aired competing ads on large digital billboards in downtown Seoul this summer. An IT industry insider said, "Their marketing resembles the past subscriber competition among South Korea's three major telecom companies. Since securing paid subscribers directly impacts profitability, the strategy seems to be to preemptively capture users before the generative AI market matures."
Gemini is closing the gap
ChatGPT currently dominates the domestic market. According to app and payment data analysis firm WiseApp.Retail, ChatGPT was the most used AI chatbot app in South Korea in July, with a monthly active user (MAU) count of 23.67 million people. Gemini ranked second with 9.47 million people.
However, Gemini has been rapidly catching up. In the same survey in March, ChatGPT's MAU was 23.29 million people, while Gemini's was 7.72 million. Over four months, ChatGPT's users increased by 380,000, while Gemini's grew by 1.75 million.
An Open Survey also showed that Gemini's usage experience rate, which was 28.9% in December last year, increased by 23.3 percentage points in six months. In contrast, ChatGPT's rate rose only 3.6 percentage points from 54.5% to 58.1% during the same period. No other AI has surpassed 5 million MAU except these two. For marketers exploring either tool, dedicated ChatGPT courses & certifications and Google AI courses can help build practical skills.
An AI industry insider said, "As users increasingly adopt ChatGPT, Gemini, and recently Claude (MAU 3.44 million people) in work and daily life, foreign AI is rapidly encroaching on the domestic market. While local companies are developing various generative AI models, they are still at a disadvantage."
Why this matters for marketers
The subscription battle signals where the AI market is heading: both companies are betting that early adoption habits will translate into long-term paid retention. For marketers, this means the tools you choose now - and the workflows you build around them - are likely to shape your team's productivity for years. The rapid growth of Gemini, in particular, suggests that relying on a single AI platform is a risk; testing both ChatGPT and Gemini for different tasks (content drafting, data analysis, campaign ideation) will help you identify which one delivers better results for your specific needs before the market settles.
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