Popular late night cooking shows are proving a steady driver of sales for online food retailers.

News from South Korea shows that as cooking shows gain popularity in late night time slots, TV viewers are purchasing more food by mobile, especially between 10pm and midnight.

According to Ticket Monster, an online shopping site in Korea, which analysed mobile purchasing patterns trends from January to May, sales of food from 10pm to 12pm are 65 per cent higher than other time segments. In addition, mobile food sales during the time segment increased 51 per cent over the same period of the previous year.

Many cooking shows including “Three Meals a Day” and “House Cook Master Bake” on tvN, “Please Take Care of My Refrigerator” (pictured above) on JTBC and “What Shall We Eat Today?” on Olive TV air after 10pm, and tempt viewers with their tasty offerings.

Ticket Monster noted that sales of instant foods increased 45 per cent during the time segment over the previous year, and fresh food increased 102 per cent. Sales of pork belly soared 156 per cent followed by dried seaweed (134 per cent), swordfish (81 per cent) and mackerel (52 per cent)

An official at Ticket Monster said: “As cooking shows attract more viewers, more mobile shoppers are trying to cook their own food. To appeal to these consumers, we are preparing high quality fresh foods to increase our competitiveness.”

Oriignal reporting by M. H. Lee.