We have TV, Netflix and Hulu. And then we have Youtube.
Compared to when the website first started out, Youtube has grown into one of
the biggest entertainment and content providers on the internet. So many videos
are posted on Youtube everyday and there is a diverse amount of content for
every interest and for every need. The people who consistently post content on
Youtube are called “Youtubers” and when a Youtuber gets many subscribers (about
more than 50,000), they become a “Youtube Star”. Thousands, and sometimes even
millions of people watch their faces everyday. What makes them so popular? What
makes them stand out and what is it about their videos that keeps people coming
back for more? I am going to look at one such Youtube channel that has more
than 900,000 subscribers.
The channel is called “Eat Your Kimchi”. The “youtube stars”
names are Simon and Martina Stawski, a married couple from Canada who moved to
Korea in 2008. They became English teachers to Korean students. Initially, they
were planning on only staying for 1 year and then they were going to relocate
to Japan and become English teachers there. They posted videos on Youtube about
their life in Korea for friends and family back home to watch. However, it
ended up becoming popular and they started to gain more and more subscribers
which led to them staying in Korea for more than one year and making a career
around their Youtube channel. The content they post on their channel is very
interesting and entertaining.
Their videos are mainly about Korean culture and their life
in Korea. They have different segments on their channel such as “Wonderful
Treasure Find” (WTF for short :P) where they find interesting objects, products or
snacks that is unique to Korea and review them. Other segments include “food
adventures” where they go try delicious looking Korean food, “wonderful
adventures” where they go to different places in Korea and “tl;dr” where they
answer questions that viewers may have about or Korea or where they talk about
Korean life and culture. They’ve even posted videos reviewing Korean Pop music!
Here are some of their videos:
As you can see, their content is pretty unique from other
content that you can find on Youtube. For one thing, there aren’t many youtubers
on Youtube who post videos about Korean culture. Even in Korea, there is a low
population of foreign people and so this makes “Eat Your Kimchi” special
because their videos are through the viewpoint of a foreigner who lives in
Korea. And even if there are other foreigners who live in Korea and post
videos, “Eat Your Kimchi” stands out because they are fun, entertaining and
interesting. They do skits, dress up as other characters, make jokes, talk
about their own embarrassing/funny experiences. In this way, they make their
content personal and unique and this is what makes people come back for more. Anyone
else could talk about the same topics that they talk about but if it’s presented in a boring way, no one will
come back or subscribe. Viewers come back because it feels as if they’re talking
to a friend when watching their videos.
Also, another thing I have noticed is that “Eat Your Kimchi”
posts their content regularly on the same days every week. This means that
subscribers know when to expect a video and this leads them to come back every
week to watch the next video. If a viewer doesn’t know when the next video will
be posted, they might eventually lose interest in the channel. Especially if
it’s been a few months since the last video. Consistent content makes viewers
come back for more. Another important thing they do is that they engage with
the viewers in ways like answering Twitter questions or responding to comments.
I believe this is why Eat Your Kimchi is where they are now. They post
interesting, enjoyable and informative content, but they also keep it
consistent while engaging with their viewers. However, I do not believe that
they would have succeeded without Youtube.
The reason I think this is because their content is made for Youtube. They make short and
sweet segments about their life in Korea and Youtube is optimized for short
videos rather than long 30 minutes or hour long videos. The latter is more
popular on TV or Netflix. Without Youtube, no one would know their names and it
would’ve been harder for them to be popular and for them to be where they are
today.
Eat Your Kimchi is one of many different famous Youtube channels
on Youtube. The content that is posted differs from Youtube star to Youtube
star and appeals to different groups of people. What makes them popular however
is that most of their videos are interesting and enjoyable to watch. They are
consistent and they engage with their audience. In return, the audience comes back for more, subscribes or
recommends their videos to someone else.
Check out my new blog post about Youtube Stars!https://t.co/lKoQRyEYxq
— Nishita Patel (@bluegem12) February 6, 2016
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