Analysis by Democratic Party lawmaker Choi Min-hee based on Korea Press Foundation data
KBS Kpop, EBSCulture and Shukaworld ranked top three in 2025
'Will actively work to reform government advertising system in the culture committee'
The YouTube channel that received the most government-sponsored advertising last year was KBS Kpop, while Shukaworld topped the rankings among individual influencer channels.
Rep. Choi Min-hee of the Democratic Party of Korea (Namyangju-gap, Gyeonggi Province) on Thursday released a full breakdown of government-sponsored YouTube advertising after obtaining and analyzing Korea Press Foundation data covering placements made from January 2025 through May 2026.
According to Choi's analysis, the KBS Kpop channel received the most government advertising of any YouTube channel in 2025, collecting a total of 846.33 million won (about $550,000), including a 10 percent agency fee — a condition that applies to all figures cited below.
EBSCulture came in second with 643.33 million won, followed by Shukaworld at 632.97 million won, Maeil Sinmun at 500.75 million won and Picnic Live Sopung at 479.93 million won.
Among individual influencer YouTubers, Shukaworld led, followed by Andoel Gwahak at 345.86 million won, Insaeng 84 at 331 million won, Lululalla Music at 309.98 million won and Oh No Nina at 306.13 million won.
For the period from January through May this year, Maeil Sinmun led with 232 million won, followed by Jisik Inside at 220.22 million won and SBS Story at 180 million won. Among influencer YouTubers in the same period, Yesei received 130.68 million won, Boda 123.42 million won, Tour Likey 115.5 million won, Pick It 110 million won, Sikppang Unni Kim Yeon-gyeong 108.9 million won and Shukaworld 104.06 million won.
A spokesperson for Choi's office said Shukaworld, the top individual influencer recipient, received 214.17 million won from the Korea Land and Housing Corporation last year under the category of "branded content," 96.8 million won from the Seoul Metropolitan Government for an "AI Innovation City Seoul promotional video advertisement," and 96.8 million won from Pyeongtaek City Hall for "Pyeongtaek City Hall branded content production." This year, the channel received 104.06 million won from the Korea Invention Promotion Association for a project called "Everyone's Idea Collaboration."
According to Choi, the Maeil Sinmun YouTube channel — which covers political issues — received more government advertising than any other media outlet's YouTube channel.
The Daegu Foundation for Arts and Culture alone placed eight separate advertisements on the channel totaling 603.2 million won, all promoting events including the 2025 Powerful K-Trot Festival, the 2026 Powerful K-Trot Festival and the 2025 Powerful Daegu Gayo Festival. The North Gyeongsang Province Cultural Foundation placed 104.8 million won in ads for a "2025 APEC Boom-Up Concert," the Ministry of Interior and Safety spent 13.75 million won promoting its hometown love donation program, and Gumi City Hall placed 11 million won in ads for the 2025 Ramyun Festival.
Choi's office noted that the KBS Kpop channel, which received the most sponsored advertising last year, has about 10.21 million subscribers, while EBSCulture has about 3.01 million. "The Maeil Sinmun YouTube channel, by contrast, has only around 850,000 subscribers," the office said. "It is questionable whether it is appropriate for a channel of that size to receive advertising fees comparable to popular channels like KBS and EBS."
Meanwhile, total government advertising spending last year amounted to 1.2544 trillion won, of which 67.7 billion won was placed on YouTube.
Government advertising on YouTube falls into two broad categories: general advertising and sponsored advertising. General advertising is placed by government agencies and public institutions directly with YouTube (Google) and distributed automatically by algorithm, making it impossible to determine which specific channels carry the ads — information that Google does not provide. Sponsored advertising, by contrast, involves an advertiser directly requesting that an ad be placed on a specific channel, where it is typically introduced verbally by the creator or displayed as a banner or placard.
The current breakdown of government advertising placements is disclosed through the government advertising integrated support system operated by the Korea Press Foundation. However, while placements in newspapers and broadcast media are disclosed by individual outlet, YouTube placements are listed only under the generic label "YouTube," with no channel-by-channel breakdown made public.
Choi said it is necessary to disclose transparently, on a case-by-case basis, which agency placed government advertising on which YouTube channel. "The Korea Press Foundation resisted disclosing government advertising data and has only gradually expanded its disclosures under pressure from court rulings and public opinion," she said. "The system needs to be reformed through a legal framework to ensure more thorough and transparent disclosure."
She added that she would "actively work in the second-half session of the culture committee to reform the government advertising system so that public tax money is not only disclosed transparently but also spent more efficiently and appropriately."
bigroot@heraldcorp.com
