Gangbuk-gu YouTube July Total Views 920,000... Secret to Being No.1 Among Autonomous Districts?

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The official YouTube channel of Gangbuk-gu, Seoul (Mayor Lee Soon-hee) has recently become the talk of the town. With a counterintuitive story that breaks the rigid image of public officials and a self-sacrificing, bittersweet comedic performance, it is capturing the attention of Gangbuk residents and netizens alike.

Thanks to an innovative and trendy content strategy, the number of subscribers has more than doubled from around 3,000 earlier this year to about 7,700 currently. In July, it achieved over 920,000 total views, ranking first among the YouTube channels of Seoul’s 25 autonomous districts. It also ranked second in August, consistently maintaining a top position every month.

Since its launch in 2017, Gangbuk-gu’s YouTube channel mainly featured official videos focused on district administration promotion, similar to other local government channels. However, starting in March this year, it introduced a large number of fresh contents targeting the MZ generation, such as ‘Gangbuk-gu Unofficial,’ ‘Gongdeolteu,’ ‘I’ll Try It,’ and ‘Public Official Vlog,’ which have been steadily increasing views day by day.

In particular, the ‘Gongdeolteu’ videos parody the popular YouTube comedy channel ‘Adult.’ Lee Jin-seok, the public relations officer of Gangbuk-gu Office, and Yang Dong-hyun, a staff member, appear in person to comically portray the daily life of a boss who abuses power and a struggling office worker. Some of the lines include “I won’t drink with you,” “Manager, you don’t like me, do you?”, “Even if I drew it with my foot, it would be better than that,” and “Looks like you’ve lost your temper.”

Looking at the comments, there are many messages of support such as “Wow! It’s been a while since I laughed this hard,” “Are you really public officials? Your acting is great!”, “I never thought this was Gangbuk-gu Office’s YouTube,” “This is probably the best achievement in Gangbuk-gu Office’s history,” “They try many diverse and good attempts~~ I enjoyed it cheerfully,” and “Now I even look forward to video updates.”

Gangbuk-gu is unique in that public officials, who usually avoid showing their faces, unite to appear in fun and innovative content to promote district administration. It is regarded as having made a significant mark in the public organization YouTube scene.

Public Relations Officer Lee Jin-seok said, “We wanted to change Gangbuk-gu’s outdated image and break the prejudice against the district office and public officials. We are grateful that people recognize the efforts of public officials to approach residents more warmly while providing enjoyment.” He added, “I want to express my thanks to the staff who work hard and think together for district promotion.”

Additionally, Gangbuk-gu’s YouTube channel has been featuring resident VJs and former district announcers, presenting various challenges and food exploration videos, which also record high view counts.

Mayor Lee Soon-hee of Gangbuk-gu said, “District promotion is very important because it is directly related to residents’ lives. There are still many residents who miss out on benefits due to lack of information.” She added, “We hope for much interest and support from citizens and Gangbuk residents for YouTube Gangbuk-gu. Subscribing and liking are love.”