GS25 Irioneora Reaches 1.06 Million 'No.1'
Regular Content Builds Strong Fanbase
Targeting Gen Z with Short-Form Content
Convenience stores are actively competing to gain YouTube subscribers by leveraging entertainment and short-form content. Their strategy is to create a positive image through differentiated content targeting their main customer base, the MZ generation (Millennials + Generation Z).
As of the 2nd, a survey of convenience store YouTube subscriber counts showed that GS25's channel, Irioneora, leads with 1.06 million subscribers, about 190,000 more than CU's 'CUtube' with 864,000 subscribers. Since launching their YouTube channels in 2012, GS25 and CU have been fiercely competing for subscriber numbers. Seven Eleven's 'Boksepyense' has 258,000 subscribers, and Emart24's 'How to Live with Emart24' has 12,200 subscribers.
GS25 operates a studio-style YouTube channel rather than producing short-term content solely for product promotion. They have built a strong fan base for their regular content, which has also generated secondary content spin-offs, showing significant results. Their most popular content is 'MZ (Mwonji) Mollayo,' which has accumulated 15 million views. This entertainment program features comedian Lee Yong-jin and singer Son Dong-pyo experiencing the culture that excites the MZ generation firsthand.
CU has signed a business agreement with Playlist to produce drama-based content and strengthen marketing collaborations, focusing on enhancing the value of online and offline content experiences. The short drama 'Convenience Store Ttukttaki' depicts the eventful store management story of Jeongju, a passionate first-year convenience store owner in her mid-20s. Within ten days of release, the video surpassed 20 million cumulative views across all channels including YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.
Singer Son Dong-pyo and comedian Lee Yong-jin are filming GS25's YouTube content 'MZ (Mwonji) Mollayo'. [Image source=Irieonora YouTube channel]
Seven Eleven pursues storytelling using convenience store products and episodes that resonate with everyday life. This year, they plan to focus on targeting Generation Z customers who prefer short-form content that is brief and highly engaging. Their representative content, 'Seven Stage,' averages 700,000 views per episode. It first premiered in June 2021 with singer Park Jae-jung and has released a total of seven episodes, including rapper Jusdis in November last year.
Emart24 is building a universe centered around its brand character, Wondungi. In August last year, they planned a project to send Wondungi into space and produced a YouTube video about it. They successfully launched a helium balloon vehicle to 13,000 meters above ground, reaching the stratosphere, and recovered it. The 'Would you~?' content, featuring Wondungi’s journey to find the taste of space, recorded 1.08 million views.
An industry insider said, "We are producing videos that the MZ generation can enthusiastically engage with, rather than one-sided advertisements simply saying our products are good." They added, "We will continue to lead trends with high-quality content and create channels to communicate with customers."
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