[Content Commerce] The Taste of 40-Year Veteran Actress Yang Hee-kyung's Cooking 'Ddanjipbap'

'Yang Hee-kyung's Ddanjipbap' Channel Operated by Yang Hee-kyung and Han Seung-hyun
Channel Launched Through YouTuber Challenge Variety Show
Popular Home-Cooked Meal Content Highlighting 'Sonmat' Flavor
Ingredient Sales Also Through YouTube Shopping

"My mother often said that if the YouTube channel does well, she wants to provide 'Danjipbap' meals to people struggling like child-headed households. Our goal is to grow the channel enough to produce such content."

Actor Han Seung-hyun, who runs the 'Yang Hee-kyung's Danjipbap' channel, explained about managing the YouTube channel like this. The intention is to raise awareness and spread positive influence through home-cooked meals. This channel, operated by Han and his mother, actress Yang Hee-kyung, produces content sharing the secrets of healthy home cooking.

Actor Yang Hee-kyung, who runs the channel 'Yang Hee-kyung's Different Home-cooked Meals.' Photo by Cafe24

The two main figures running the YouTube channel are actress Yang Hee-kyung, who has nearly 40 years of experience, and her son, CEO Han Seung-hyun. Yang Hee-kyung is often cast in aunt roles in dramas, earning her the nickname 'National Aunt.' She is also the younger sister of singer Yang Hee-eun. Her son, CEO Han, is also a seasoned actor with a career spanning 14 years. He continues to be active, recently playing the role of Chae Chung-soon in the historical drama 'Goryeo-Khitan War.'

Despite the seemingly glamorous life of an actor, there were hardships. During breaks without filming, unstable income sometimes made it difficult to support the family as the head of the household. CEO Han said, "Unless you are well-known enough that everyone recognizes your name, actors often face financial difficulties during gaps between projects," adding, "To overcome this, I often took part-time jobs shooting and editing photos and videos of fellow actors in theater troupes, leveraging my hobby."

Then, YouTube caught CEO Han’s attention. After filming a variety show where he challenged YouTube creator activities with his mother, they launched the channel and later decided to revive it. Based on his filming and editing experience, he began sharing his mother Yang Hee-kyung’s home cooking secrets with viewers. Recently, they recruited a fellow actor who used to work part-time filming with them, and now operate the channel together, releasing content more frequently.

The channel’s unique feature and strength lie in Yang Hee-kyung’s 'hand taste.' Despite her busy acting schedule, Yang always cooked homemade meals for her children herself, believing that homemade food is the safest and healthiest. Through continuous research on recipes for her family, she accumulated considerable know-how. In fact, after the channel’s revamp five years ago, the first video posted was a cleanly washed and boiled kimchi stew, which received over 270,000 views and positive responses. Subsequent videos covering steamed egg tofu and chili oil sauce also surpassed one million views.

Yang Hee-kyung’s Danjipbap channel steadily gained popularity, recently surpassing 100,000 subscribers and earning the 'Silver Button.' CEO Han said, "Our channel operation strategy is as simple as my mother’s cooking," introducing, "We have posted about 70 videos so far, always filming and uploading in the same place and format without sensational content." He explained the secret to their popularity, saying, "Like the steady home-cooked meals we serve our family, the channel hasn’t grown explosively but has gradually increased its loyal viewers, which led to receiving the Silver Button recently."

Han Seung-hyun, CEO operating the 'Yang Hee-kyung's Ddanjipbap' channel. Provided by Cafe24

Recently, they have been selling food ingredient products such as rice nuruk salt, rice nuruk jeotgal, and organic red pepper powder using Cafe24’s 'YouTube Shopping Dedicated Store' feature. As the channel gained popularity, viewers who wanted to follow the recipes frequently requested introductions to the ingredients Yang Hee-kyung uses. In response, they started selling products they regularly use at home, entering content commerce.

Most of the products sold are those Yang Hee-kyung enjoys using when cooking at home, produced by small business owners who cultivate their own fields or farms. The product selection criteria are strict; before listing a new product, they personally use it for over three months to determine if it is suitable to introduce to subscribers. Once sourcing is decided, CEO Han personally photographs the small business owners’ products and supports creating detailed product pages.

CEO Han said, "We started selling because we thought our channel could be a good sales outlet for small business owners and a place where viewers can discover quality products," adding, "Displaying products directly in YouTube content and naturally linking to sales is especially effective in improving purchase conversion rates." He emphasized, "Products linked in the videos are particularly popular, which often surprises the small business owners."