"Peak Earnings Over 100 Million KRW per Month"…165 Million Subscriber YouTuber Hibab Reveals Income

About 26 Million KRW Profit Last September
"Pure Profit Is Small Due to Company Operations"

Mukbang YouTuber 'Hibap', who has 1.65 million subscribers, revealed his YouTube earnings during his prime.

Mukbang YouTuber 'Hibap' with 1.65 million subscribers. YouTube capture

On the 16th, E Channel's YouTube web variety show 'E Bapsekki - Saturday is Bap's Treat' (Tobapssonda) featured Hibap offering a meal promise to find a meal buddy who would buy him beef. Before finding a meal buddy, Hibap made a meal promise to PD Lee Young-sik. Hibap stated, "This week's meal promise is to reveal the YouTube settlement amount for last September and my YouTube earnings during my prime." After three attempts, Hibap finally found a meal buddy and enjoyed a meal with his company colleagues.

Hibap boldly disclosed his YouTube ad revenue as part of his promise. He said, "September's earnings were historically low," revealing, "It was about 26.76 million KRW (based on the exchange rate on the filming day)." He continued, "My prime was in 2021," and disclosed, "In May of that year, I recorded earnings of about 102.9 million KRW," surprising everyone.

Mukbang YouTuber 'Hibap' with 1.65 million subscribers. YouTube capture

However, Hibap explained, "Although the earnings seem high, since I run a company, the actual amount I receive is not much." Hibap's meal buddies added, "I've heard that Hibap's company welfare is really good," and "It seems like he puts a lot of effort into employee welfare."

Netizens who watched the video responded with comments such as, "I've heard monthly food expenses are no joke, so I wonder if there's much left with earnings in the 20 million KRW range," "Earnings in the hundreds of millions during the prime are amazing," and "If he runs a company, the net profit probably isn't that high."

Hibap is a mukbang specialist creator active on YouTube and other platforms. Recently, he has expanded his activities to terrestrial broadcasting and is actively working. He participated as a tasting panelist in a competition on the Netflix variety show 'Black and White Chef: Cooking Class War' and also appeared on 'Gol Ttaerineun Geunyeodeul' (literally 'The Kicking Girls').

Meanwhile, according to data received from the National Tax Service by Kim Young-jin, a member of the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee from the Democratic Party, in September, the total income earned by individual media creators who filed comprehensive income tax for the year 2022 was 1.4537 trillion KRW, a 34.2% increase from the previous year (1.0835 trillion KRW). The top 10% of creators in 2022 earned a total of 665.048 billion KRW, accounting for 45.7% of the total income. The average income per person in the top 10% was 344.94 million KRW. In contrast, the total income of the bottom 10% of creators was 38.79 billion KRW, representing 2.7% of the total income, with an average income per person of 20.09 million KRW.