CJ OnStyle Operates YouTube Commerce Dedicated Channel
Cafe24 Provides D2C Mall-YouTube Shopping Integration Feature
YouTube Surpasses KakaoTalk to Become Number One in User Count
# The live commerce-dedicated YouTube channel 'Hot Deal Set Net Open Run,' operated by CJ OnStyle, conducted a broadcast of the premium robot vacuum cleaner 'Roborock' last year, achieving daily sales exceeding 2 billion KRW. This was a result achieved just about 50 days after CJ OnStyle launched the channel. The broadcast, conducted with 'ITsub,' the largest tech YouTube creator in Korea with 2.5 million subscribers, far surpassed the 100 million KRW milestone, known as the 'magic barrier' in the live broadcast industry. Considering that the same product recorded sales of around 1.8 billion KRW in one hour through CJ OnStyle TV Live in March last year, this shows that YouTube live broadcasts have achieved results comparable to TV.
YouTube is emerging as a 'blue ocean' in the e-commerce industry. Last year, YouTube introduced 'YouTube Shopping' for the first time in the world in Korea, and domestic distribution companies leveraging live broadcasts and YouTube creator content are generating solid profits.
Tech creator 'ITsub' is hosting a 'Roborock' broadcast on CJ OnStyle's live commerce exclusive YouTube channel 'Open Run'. [Photo by CJ OnStyle]
According to the distribution industry on the 5th, CJ OnStyle has been operating the YouTube live-dedicated channel 'Hot Deal Set Net Open Run' (hereafter Open Run) since October last year. Open Run is the first live broadcast-dedicated YouTube channel launched by CJ OnStyle in Korea.
Open Run conducts live commerce broadcasts using YouTube's live function, where viewers and show hosts communicate in real time through comments to provide information about products. On the Open Run channel, celebrities or famous YouTubers act as show hosts targeting the core customer base of people in their 30s and 40s. By clicking the product image displayed at the bottom of the live streaming video, viewers are redirected to the CJ OnStyle website, where they can check detailed product information and purchase the product immediately.
On the 19th of last month, CJ OnStyle aired a YouTube Open Run video featuring the 'Clean King' celebrity Brian introducing the Inspire Entertainment Resort, recently opened in Yeongjongdo. The resort tickets sold together with CJ OnStyle's mobile live commerce broadcast 'Luxury Check-in' attracted order amounts approaching 5.3 billion KRW in total.
Earlier, YouTube opened a shopping channel in Korea in the second half of last year, marking the beginning of the domestic e-commerce market. Korea is the first country where YouTube officially launched a shopping channel. Since the channel's launch, over 30 brands including Samsung Electronics, Baskin Robbins, and Puma have conducted live broadcasts, and channels linking YouTube channels with Direct to Consumer (D2C) shopping malls targeting consumers have started to increase.
Cafe24, an e-commerce platform specializing in building D2C shopping malls, also provides a function to link shopping malls with YouTube videos through YouTube Shopping integration. Through this, online businesses operating D2C shopping malls based on Cafe24 can link their product information with YouTube channels to sell products. Currently, famous YouTubers such as health YouTuber 'Fitbly,' who has 1.4 million subscribers, beauty YouTubers 'Ramukke' and 'AejugaTVChamPD,' are using Cafe24's YouTube integration service to increase their sales scale. According to Cafe24, as of the third quarter of last year, the number of new shopping malls using the YouTube Shopping integration service increased by about 59.2% compared to the previous quarter. Compared to the first quarter of the same year, it increased by about 215.8%.
Earlier, Google, which operates YouTube, decided to invest approximately 26 billion KRW in Cafe24 in December last year. The industry interprets Google's investment as a move to target the Korean market based on video content.
The product page is linked on the Shorts screen, a short-form content of the YouTube channel 'Gongguwang Hwangbu-jang'. [Photo by Cafe24]
The number of distribution companies utilizing YouTube Shopping is expected to continue increasing. This is because YouTube has emerged as the most used platform among domestic mobile apps. According to Mobile Index by mobile big data company IGAWorks, YouTube recorded 45.65 million monthly active users (MAU) in December last year, surpassing KakaoTalk (45.54 million), which ranked second, for the first time. It also maintained the top spot in domestic mobile app usage in January (45.47 million) and February (45.50 million) this year.
YouTube also holds the number one position in user usage time among domestic mobile apps. According to app and retail analysis services WiseApp, Retail, and Goods, as of January, the total YouTube app usage time by domestic users reached 111.9 billion minutes, marking an all-time high. During this period, the average YouTube usage time per user was 40 hours. This is about twice the 21 hours recorded in January 2019, five years ago.
The commerce market based on YouTube and social networking services (SNS) is also expected to grow steadily. Not only YouTube, but Meta, which operates Facebook and Instagram, partnered with Cafe24 at the end of 2020 to introduce the 'Shops' feature, allowing D2C shopping malls to link with each channel and sell products. According to global market research firm Statista, the global social media-based commerce market size was 1.298 trillion USD (about 1,727 trillion KRW) last year and is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 30.8%, reaching 3.799 trillion USD (about 5,056 trillion KRW) by 2027.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
