CUTube, Irioneora, Boksepyense... Convenience Store YouTube War

'No.1 in Subscribers' CU Surpasses 500,000
CEO Appearance and Online Concert Gain Attention

Geonjun Lee, President of BGF Retail.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] As the MZ generation (Millennials + Generation Z) has become the main customer base of convenience stores, major convenience stores are fiercely competing to secure YouTube subscribers. They are focusing on enhancing their brand image by featuring various content such as entertainment and performances.

◆ CU surpasses 500,000 subscribers for the first time = On the 28th, after tallying the number of YouTube subscribers of major convenience stores, CU’s ‘CUtube’ channel recorded 571,000 subscribers, about 110,000 more than GS25’s ‘Irieoneora’ (457,000), taking first place. Since opening their YouTube channels in 2012, CU and GS25 competed neck and neck until reaching 200,000 subscribers. In April last year, their competition intensified, leading to a dispute over who received the YouTube ‘Silver Button’ first, awarded to channels surpassing 100,000 subscribers. Since then, CU’s videos targeting the trend of spacing out, such as the chewy macaron manufacturing video, gained great popularity, widening the gap. CU became the first in the industry to reach 500,000 subscribers last month.

Seven Eleven also launched its ‘SevenTV’ channel in 2012 and changed the channel name to ‘Boksepyunse (Comfortably Go to Seven in a Complicated World)’ in March. Until then, Seven Eleven had been criticized for using the corporate name on its YouTube channel, which was considered old-fashioned, and its subscriber count stagnated at 100,000. However, after revamping the channel, it has been on the rise, surpassing 160,000 subscribers. Emart24 also entered the competition by launching a YouTube channel last year.

Singer Park Jae-jung is performing at Seven Eleven's 'Seven Stage'.

◆ Popularity of entertainment content, even CEOs appear = ‘Distribution entertainment’ is undoubtedly popular on convenience store YouTube channels. CU’s representative content is ‘Ssweoperman,’ featuring singer Defconn dressed as Superman, carrying CU products in a backpack and selling customized products to citizens he meets on the street. GS25 introduced ‘Motbaewonnomdeul (Uneducated Guys),’ starring comedian Lee Yong-jin and rapper Baetsagong, with a total of 26 videos accumulating over 3.5 million views. Both companies also attracted attention by releasing content featuring BGF Retail President Lee Geon-jun and GS Retail President Cho Yoon-sung themselves.

Online performances have also emerged as killer content. Seven Eleven plans to release the second ‘Seven Stage’ video in mid-next month, following singer Park Jae-jung’s performance in June. Seven Stage is content featuring live concerts by famous singers set against unique Seven Eleven stores nationwide. GS25 also presented the ‘Music & Beach Festival,’ featuring top domestic musicians such as Park Jung-hyun, Kim Bum-soo, Brave Girls, and Psy. The cumulative online attendance for this performance exceeded one million.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.