From Car Games to YouTube Hit: The Yoo Father and Son Duo [Content Commerce]

Yoo Jinha, CEO of Yujacha Garage
Test Drives and In-Car Tech Product Reviews

"Yujacha Garage" is a creator channel that shares a wide range of automobile-related knowledge, with 62,800 YouTube subscribers and more than 42.64 million cumulative views. It is drawing attention as it is run by Yoo Jinha, CEO of Yujacha Garage, who loves cars, together with his father in his 50s, who has over 30 years of experience as a video director.

Their biggest shared interest is clearly "cars." Since elementary school, Yoo used to enjoy the car racing game "Need for Speed," which features a variety of models, together with his father. When they went for a drive and stopped by a restaurant or cafe, it became a habit to talk about the cars parked outside, showing just how deep their love for automobiles was.

Yoo Jinha, CEO of Yujacha Garage. Cafe24

Yoo jumped into YouTube four years ago. While majoring in materials science and engineering at university, he became attracted to marketing and started a YouTube channel as a hobby, choosing "cars" as the theme he had always liked. After graduation, he gained experience at a major marketing company, but even while working there, he could not let go of his affection for his YouTube activities. In the end, Yoo chose the path of becoming a YouTube creator, where he could more freely produce content that reflects his expertise and personality, and quickly turn ideas into reality.

Yoo explained, "Yujacha Garage really took off when my father and I decided to grow the YouTube channel together, and the channel name carries the meaning of 'the Yoo family's father-and-son car stories.' Ever since I got my license, I have tried hard to study cars, to the point of changing my own car four to five times over about three years, so when it comes to interest in automobiles, I am confident I will not lose to anyone."

The secret to the channel's growth lies in producing content that incorporates feedback gained through active communication with viewers, in addition to more typical content such as test drives and reviews of in-car tech products. In the early days of running the channel, they did not know what exactly to focus on, so they tried various types of content such as how to use a car, DIY tips, and purchase guides, but it was difficult to see meaningful results.

The turning point came from a comment left by a subscriber. After checking comments where subscribers wrote down questions about cars or related accessories, they began creating content to resolve these questions, and the response changed. When they introduced cost-effective tech products that help older vehicles gain functions equivalent to the latest options, a single piece of content drew 400,000 to 500,000 views. At viewers' request, they also covered the Chinese market that sells "CarPlay" products, and produced content in which they cut the dashboard of an old BMW 3 Series with a saw to install a modern navigation system.

The fact that the actual father and son appear together is both the differentiator and the strength of Yujacha Garage. The content captures not only knowledge about cars, but also the affection and fun that can only be felt within a family. Their roles are clearly divided. Basically, both father and son appear in all content, but the father, drawing on his long driving experience, mainly handles reviews of the cars themselves. The son, with his engineering background, specializes in various car accessories, especially tech products. The total number of uploaded videos has reached 992.

The CEO of Yujacha Garage said, "The main viewers of the channel are men between 35 and their 60s. Many of them are interested in the latest tech products but feel they are too difficult to approach, so quite a few use our content as their entry point."

Since last year, they have expanded their business into the commerce sector. Through communication with viewers, they naturally came to understand the pain points of products used around cars, and this led them to take on the challenge of a commerce business. After selling a car blanket that also serves as a neck cushion and a parking number plate that allows you to reveal your phone number only when you want to, Yujacha Garage recently launched and is selling a "seat extension cushion" that they participated in planning from the product development stage.

In particular, by applying the "YouTube Shopping" feature through the global e-commerce platform "Cafe24," they are boosting purchase conversion rates and business efficiency by showcasing their own products via the "Store" tab on the channel and within each piece of content. In the case of the seat extension cushion, as soon as it was launched and a single related video was released, the initial batch sold out in an instant.

Yoo said, "Ultimately, I want this channel to be one where viewers feel that 'a father and son are happily enjoying car life with cars as their theme.' Since we started the channel in pursuit of fun, nothing would make me happier than hearing people say, 'I want to go around like that with my dad too.'"