Challenging Billion-Dollar Kids Channels... 'Silver YouTubers' Are Rising

Sharing Elderly Wisdom and Know-How, Differentiating by Transmitting Professional Expertise Before Retirement

Participants learning YouTube production techniques by joining the '50+ YouTuber Challenge' program at Seongbuk-gu Office, Seoul
[Photo by Seongbuk-gu Office]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] The most popular content on YouTube is the 'Kids Channel' aimed at children. Topics such as introducing toys or experiencing play facilities attract not only peers but also parents' interest. Last year, the highest-earning YouTuber worldwide was an eight-year-old American boy, Ryan Kaji (real name Ryan Kwan). He earned $26 million (about 30.3 billion KRW) in one year, ranking first. In 2018, he also earned $22 million (about 25.6 billion KRW), becoming the highest-earning YouTuber, but this time he made even more revenue. In Korea, kids YouTubers earning tens of billions of won have also emerged. Furthermore, as YouTube has established itself as a communication space that spans generations and genders, participation by the elderly is becoming as active as kids channels. This is the spread of so-called 'Silver YouTubers.'

According to the related industry on the 25th, cases of the silver generation challenging themselves as creators are increasing recently. They captivate viewers by sharing wisdom and know-how of old age that cannot be learned at school or from books, or by providing knowledge content that informs the public about the expertise of their pre-retirement professions. Below are representative cases of silver creators who stand out on domestic YouTube.

◆ Former Supreme Court Justice 'Chasan Teacher' = Park Il-hwan, a former Supreme Court justice aged 68 this year, chose creator as his second career. Starting as a judge at the Seoul Civil District Court in 1978, he worked as a judge for 34 years until 2012 when he served as a Supreme Court justice. He shares the legal knowledge he accumulated through his YouTube channel 'Chasan Teacher Legal Knowledge' with the public. He explains everyday legal knowledge that ordinary people might be curious about in an easy-to-understand way, such as ▲what to know when canceling a real estate sales contract ▲who is a public official ▲whether secret recordings are lawful ▲about hate speech and defamation. Subscribers ask questions about legal knowledge or cases on his channel, and Park reflects these in his next content, actively communicating with viewers. Thanks to this, as of January this year, about one year after starting the channel, it has about 40,000 subscribers and approximately 320,000 cumulative views.

◆ Korea's First Milan Exchange Student 'Milanonna' = Jang Myung-sook, 68 this year, is Korea's first Italian Milan exchange student. She has a fashion career including launching many famous overseas brands in Korea and designing stage costumes for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1986 Seoul Asian Games. After retirement, she is active as a fashion creator 'Milanonna' sharing her know-how on YouTube, including ▲fashion trends ▲brand and item introductions ▲shopping 'tips.' She started her YouTube channel in October last year and gathered 200,000 subscribers in just three months. Her main target audience is the 20s and 30s generation. She introduces timeless coordination methods and is very popular among young people.

Grandmother Park Makrye interviewed last year by the fashion magazine Vogue / Photo by Vogue website capture

◆ 40-Year Veteran Housewife's Mom's Table 'Simbanggol Housewife' = Jo Sung-ja (62) runs the 'Simbanggol Housewife' channel with about 340,000 subscribers. Under the theme 'Country Mom's Table,' she presents cooking content filled with the know-how and secrets of a full-time housewife for over 40 years. She introduces recipes for dishes commonly eaten at home such as bean sprout rice, squid radish soup, and jangjorim (soy-braised beef). Last year, she appeared on a TV entertainment program, showing a simple and warm image and passion for cooking by growing ingredients herself and cooking in a cauldron, earning the channel a reputation among subscribers as one that offers both 'healing' and 'recipes.'

◆ Silver Icon 'Grandma Park Makrye' = The most successful silver YouTuber is Park Makrye (73), the star of the 'Grandma Park Makrye' channel. She conveys life lessons and wisdom in a rich dialect and has become a power YouTuber with 1.17 million subscribers. She published an essay titled 'Park Makrye, I Can't Die Like This,' which includes her life story and thoughts on starting YouTube in old age, and it was selected as the 2019 Book of the Year. In addition, she was invited to the global developer conference 'Google I/O' hosted by Google in May last year, where she met Google's CEO Sundar Pichai. Sundar Pichai praised her on his social network service (SNS), calling her channel "the most inspiring channel." Park also met Susan Wojcicki, YouTube CEO, who visited Korea in April last year, gaining worldwide fame. She often tells her subscribers, "Why try to match others' rhythm? If you play the drum and the janggu (Korean drum) as you want, people who want to match that rhythm will come and dance." Thanks to this, she is also regarded as a 'symbol of hope' among the younger generation.