Over the past few years, there has been a major shift from television to youtube viewership in South Korea - television broadcast still retains a huge audience, and yet these same people have begun to also consume youtube videos. These aren't just random youtube videos, though - these are talk shows, garnering millions of views per video - considering Korea's population is only ~50 million, this is a wild feat in comparison to the States.
Whether the talk show is comedic, focused on drinking, centered around a guest's fridge, or just a calm and intimate gathering, these shows clearly appeal a lot to the audience. They key is to invite relevant guests that the audience will enjoy (usually actors and artists). A key reason behind the big upstart on youtube was Covid - although many more people remained at home, entertainment shows were harder to shoot with its hundreds of staff members + stricter laws. One of the people that really jumpstarted this trend was Na Yeong-seok, a very famous PD in Korea, producing countless big-hit shows. After he started creating shows on youtube with fresh concepts, he quickly gained popularity on that platform.
These shows are fun to watch, and highly recommended to those who are trying to learn Korean. Attached are some screenshots of these shows (Psick Show, 차린건 쥐뿔도 없지만, 나불나불 나영석, 덱스 냉터뷰), with some links to the channels.
https://www.youtube.com/@PsickUniv
https://www.youtube.com/@ch117
Comments
Great post! I also made a similar post on the popularity of YouTube and the shift of audiences. I think it has to do with the trend of watching videos that only require a short term attention span. I agree with you that it is more intimate and personalized when it is just a smaller talk show with more attention toward the special guests.
I was surprised when I opened the post because I had already watched these videos. I think it is more common to watch YouTube or short-form platforms instead of TV shows. I also recommend Psick University and their talk show Psick Show because they were the first YouTubers to win the Best TV Entertainment Award at the Baeksang Arts Awards.
In this video, Na Yeong-seok discusses his thoughts about different platforms.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mu6aVhnOkY