Surpassing 10 Billion YouTube Views in 5 Years and 6 Months
Explosive View Counts Fueled by Repetitive Viewing Characteristics of Infants and Toddlers
Customized Production Based on Market Response, Expanding into Educational Games
The English-made 'Pinkfong Baby Shark' dance video surpassed 10 billion cumulative views on YouTube on the 13th. It is the world's first record for a single video. According to the production company The Pinkfong Company, the total playback time amounts to an astonishing approximately 43,000 years. Released in June 2016, it took about 5 years and 6 months to exceed 10 billion views. Numerically, this record means that every person on the planet would have had to watch it at least once. The world population announced by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is about 7.8 billion.
Pinkfong Baby Shark sparked a syndrome with its catchy chorus and easy dance moves. Its foundation is the North American folk song 'Baby Shark.' With a lively melody, cute characters, and charming choreography, it captured children's attention. Thanks to the characteristic of infants and toddlers who repeatedly watch their favorite videos, the view count exploded. In November 2020, it surpassed singer Luis Fonsi's 'Despacito' to become the world's number one YouTube video by views. It then maintained the top spot for 15 consecutive months, achieving this monumental milestone on this day.
The intense popularity is also evident outside of YouTube. The 'Baby Shark' song reached number 32 on the US Billboard main singles chart 'Hot 100.' It also ranked 100 on the main album chart 'Hot 200.' It is used in various fields, including as entrance theme songs for Major League Baseball players. The Pinkfong Company has created various videos centered around related intellectual property (IP). There are about 5,000 animations uploaded on its YouTube channel. Considering viewership from 244 countries, the content is offered in twenty languages. The cumulative subscriber count is about 90 million, with approximately 50 billion views. The mobile app series, released in 164 countries' app stores with about 170 titles, has been downloaded over 400 million times. It ranks number one in educational sales in 112 countries.
The Pinkfong Company is actively developing derivative content based on its high recognition. Especially last year, it partnered with the US entertainment brand Nickelodeon to produce the TV series 'Baby Shark Big Show.' It aired in the US, UK, Italy, Australia, and other countries, gaining great popularity. Currently, it is expanding the characters and universe to produce follow-up series and movies. Through stories of baby sharks exploring the underwater world, it plans to convey various life values.
The Pinkfong Company has emerged as a strong unicorn candidate by expanding its business scope to exhibitions, concerts, and merchandise. Its secret lies in differentiation from the existing animation and content industry. The majority of employees come from the information technology (IT) field. Instead of focusing on pre-production, they concentrated on creating a variety of short-length content. Using unique data, they closely analyzed market reactions to concretely produce customized killer content. Even if employees liked the content, if the response was minimal, they boldly abandoned it. After repeating this process, the content that emerged was Pinkfong Baby Shark. Gradually increasing the target age group, they are expanding beyond long-form content into educational games.
CEO Kim Min-seok said, "The 10 billion YouTube views this time is a momentum proving Pinkfong Baby Shark's IP power across the entire entertainment industry." He added, "We will continue to present content loved by fans worldwide beyond borders and races, leading a culture that the whole family can enjoy."
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