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Over the past year, the number of subscribers to current affairs radio YouTube channels of major broadcasters has increased dramatically. The TBS Current Affairs Radio channel, which ‘Kim Eo-jun’ left, crashed in a few months, but ‘YouTube Radio’ subscriptions, including KBS, MBC, and CBS, which achieved 1 million subscriptions, are increasing netly. While the radio on YouTube has evolved into content to watch and listen to, gaining a new outlet and ripple power, the concentration of subscriptions and views on political issues is leaving new concerns.
As a result of synthesizing and analyzing the number of subscribers by current radio channel of major broadcasters from May 2022 to May 2023 (as of the 15th) with the YouTube statistics site Playboard, ‘TBS Citizen’s Broadcasting’ maintained first place with 1.38 million subscribers did. 200,000 people left for six months from December when major programs such as ‘Kim Eo-Jun’s News Factory’ were abolished, but a significant number of subscribers remained. This was followed by ‘KBS Radio’ (1.17 million), ‘MBC Radio Current Affairs’ (1.07 million), and CBS ‘Kim Hyun-jung’s News Show’ (1.01 million). ‘YTN Radio’ (461,000), ‘TBS FM95.1MHz’ (377,000), and ‘SBS Current Affairs Radio – Sigyora’ (227,000) had the most subscribers in that order.
However, it is difficult to increase or sustain the current number of TBS subscribers. Compared to the same month last year, the growth rate of subscribers in May was MBC 87.1% (+498,000), SBS 75.9% (+98,000) YTN 62.3% (+177,000), CBS 48.9% (+332,000), KBS 43.0 % (+352,000) in order. In the case of TBS, FM was 0.8% (an increase of 3,000), and Citizen’s Broadcasting was 0% as subscribers, which had increased until November, were withdrawn. A significant number of subscribers who broke away from the TBS channel are ‘Kim Eo-Jun’s Humility is Hard News Factory’ (1.3 million), ‘Jalmy Show’ (70,300), and ‘Jung Jun-hee’s Hash TV’ ( 65,600 people) are estimated to have moved.
In particular, the crash of TBS current affairs radio is clearly confirmed in the number of views. The number of monthly views of TBS (Citizens’ Broadcasting) climbed to 58.6 million in August last year and maintained its unrivaled first place, but fell to 1.54 million in January this year when major programs were discontinued. During this period, the number of views of current affairs radio such as MBC, KBS, CBS, YTN, and SBS rebounded and continued to increase. In particular, MBC, which competed for 2nd and 3rd places with KBS over the gap with TBS for 1st place, has been maintaining the 1st place in monthly views since February of this year.
It is only in the last 3-4 years that YouTube has emerged as the main platform for current affairs radio. Even in November 2018, when CBS’ Kim Hyun-jung’s News Show’ started the spin-off (extra) content ‘That Honey Show’ after the main broadcast ended, current affairs radio live and content upload through YouTube were not activated. ‘That Honey Show’ received a response, and from the following year, Mr. Kim Eo-jun, who has a strong online fandom, entered the radio market of broadcasting companies, and current affairs radio YouTube became an irresistible trend. Since 2016, radio, which has been declining enough to be excluded from the ‘four major media’ of the Korea Press Foundation’s media audience survey, has found a new point of contact with listeners through YouTube. The ‘Clubhouse’, which was also considered as a platform to replace the radio in 2021, has become less influential.
Now, in addition to current affairs radio broadcasts, YouTube-only content is becoming more common. While CBS’ ‘That Honey Show’ continues its legacy by broadcasting twice a week, MBC’s ‘Kim Jong-bae’s Attention’ has an extended broadcast corner for each day of the week, and KBS ‘Choi Kyung-young’s Strongest Current Affairs’ has a weekly in-depth interview and discussion corner, ‘Issue Reading’. exporting to youtube. A terrestrial radio PD said that he felt that the ripple effect and influence of the performer’s remarks on the extended broadcast, not the main broadcast, had increased to the point that it was reported in the article.
At the same time, the popularity of YouTube is concentrated in the field of politics, and the limitation is also continuing. Let’s divide a total of 15 videos into the top 3 of each of the 5 channels (MBC, KBS, CBS, YTN, SBS) with active current affairs radio broadcasting and uploading. ‘Politics’ 10, ‘Society’ 3, ‘Economy’ 2 appeared as a case. Political issues were dominated by themes of conflict between the ruling and opposition parties. Two of the three cases in the social field are about JMS, and one is about the Valley Murder. Economy-related content (real estate, Korea-Japan economy) was the only one to rise to the 1st and 2nd place on the KBS channel.
The top 1 most popular videos and views by channel are △MBC
Reactions such as YouTube views, subscriptions, comments and likes, which are confirmed every moment through such content, are achievements that are difficult to ignore from the production team’s point of view. Due to the nature of YouTube, components such as the theme, cast, as well as the representative image (thumbnail), title, and subtitles of a video affect the number of views, so you can feel the temptation for more ‘sellable’ content and packaging. In this regard, some production crews said that they are struggling to keep the identity and reliability of current affairs radio programs.
PD Park Jung-wook of MBC’s ‘Kim Jong-bae’s Attention’ said, “As for the contents of the broadcast itself, there is a line that cannot be crossed because it is also broadcast on the radio. I am also constantly conscious and trying to balance while making thumbnails,” he said. “There is a lot of discussion inside. It is difficult to create a standard that meets the needs of creating a meeting body and doing various things. We have to protect MBC publicity to some extent, but we can’t give up on the number of views. The principles are ambiguous, and if there is a problem, there are cases where it is the responsibility of the producers.”
Lee Joo-young, PD of KBS’ Choi Kyung-young’s Strongest Current Affairs, said, “I think that those who simultaneously access YouTube cannot represent the whole because they have clear political inclinations and orientations. When the number of conjoints rises, the production team also thinks about content that people like, but I think we need to be wary of such things,” he said. Politics has always been the way it has always been. Basically, live radio broadcasting is important.”
The problem of manpower due to the increased work burden is also a key factor. Depending on the broadcasting company or program, there are people dedicated to YouTube uploading, but it is not enough compared to the amount of video production that is put on audio broadcasting. Yoo Chang-soo, director and host of ‘That Honey Show’, PD of CBS’s ‘Kim Hyun-jung’s News Show’ said, “(That Honey Show) was done every day, but the production team was having a hard time, so we reduced it, but it is not recovering.” “It takes manpower to prepare every day. It was the first time, so it was fun, so it was not sustainable to do it together.” In the early days, ‘Kim Hyun-jung’s News Show’ started as a single channel, and he also expressed his regret for not being able to cover other programs. It is pointed out that organizational strategy and investment must be supported to ensure that performance on the new platform can continue.
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