Kids YouTuber 'Boram' with 17.57 Million Subscribers
Annual Earnings from 3.18 Billion to 50.05 Billion KRW
According to the '2020 Elementary and Secondary Career Education Status Survey' announced by the Ministry of Education and the Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training in February 2022, internet broadcasting creators such as YouTubers ranked 4th among the future career aspirations of elementary school students. Unlike in the past, as stable jobs decrease and exposure to media increases, there appears to be a shift in preferred occupations.
The American YouTube channel analysis site 'Social Blade' estimates that the annual revenue of Boram Tube Vlog, which has 17.57 million subscribers, ranges from $2.7 million (31.8 billion KRW) to $42.5 million (about 50.05 billion KRW), while Boram Tube Toy Review, with 13.62 million subscribers, is estimated to earn between $600,000 (800 million KRW) and up to $9.6 million (about 11.4 billion KRW) annually.
YouTuber 'Boram' is the top kids YouTuber in Korea, operating channels such as daily life videos (Boram Tube Vlog) and toy play videos (Boram Tube Toy Review). It is known that she started her YouTube channel at age 6 in 2019 and purchased a building in Gangnam worth about 9.5 billion KRW with the earnings, which surprised many.
Although becoming a successful YouTuber is difficult, once they reach that level, their income is said to rival that of large corporations.
Mukbang YouTuber Hibap, who has 1.53 million subscribers, revealed on KBS 2TV variety show 'The Manager Has Donkey Ears' that she spends 20 million KRW per month on food. She also disclosed that company executives receive a monthly salary of 12 million KRW before tax, and new PD-level employees start with a salary of over 5 million KRW, surprising the panelists.
Additionally, Hibap shared that from 2019 to 2022, excluding product placement (PPL), her cumulative earnings reached 2.4 billion KRW, and that the price for one PPL advertisement is equivalent to the cost of a mid-sized car, partially revealing her income.
According to data submitted by the National Tax Service to Han Byung-do, a member of the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee from the Democratic Party, the total income of 'one-person media creators (YouTubers)' based on comprehensive income tax filings was 858.898 billion KRW in 2021. The market has been steadily growing from 87.511 billion KRW in 2019 and 452.081 billion KRW in 2020.
Among them, 342 individuals in the top 1% earned more than 240 billion KRW annually. The top 1% of YouTubers earned 25% of the total YouTuber income. Their average income per person was about 700 million KRW.
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