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| YouTube officials and game content creators who were selected to join YouTube's creator support program, pose during a press conference in Seoul, Wednesday. / Courtesy of YouTube Korea |
By Baek Byung-yeul
YouTube is trying to take advantage of Korea's game industry, running a support program for rookie creators of content about games, the video streaming platform of Google said Wednesday. Korea is one of the world's leading countries both in the game developing sector and professional esports industry.
The world's biggest video streaming platform said it operated its creator supporting program NextUp for 12 YouTube creators who mainly produce content related with online games.
The 12 creators were chosen from 160 applicants to participate in the three-day creator camp, where they learned how to create better videos, get more subscribers and use high-quality video production equipment.
Ines Cha, head of top creators, public figures and gaming partnerships in the Asia-Pacific region at YouTube, said the company decided to focus on nurturing gaming YouTubers here to ride on the country's strong game industry.
"Korea has one of the biggest game industries as there are prominent game developers and publishers. The country is also a leader in the esports industry. So we focused more on content about games here in Korea," Cha said during a press conference in Seoul.
The creators said the support program helped them a lot in terms of producing better content, communicating better with their subscribers and building networks with other YouTubers.
"I am running a channel that introduces various mobile games but it was hard to create my own identity. But I was able to learn a lot through this program," a YouTuber nicknamed Gamjya said.
Another YouTuber SemoDuck, who produces videos about adventure and puzzle games, said she could share her content-creating knowhow and make more personal connections with other YouTubers.
"Creators usually don't have this kind of opportunity to meet with each other and share their ideas because they are creating content by themselves in their rooms. The program really helped me as I was able to share tips with other YouTubers," she said.
The company has operated its supporting program in many countries such as the United States, the U.K., India and Brazil in order to nurture its video creator community.
Marc Lefkowitz, head of YouTube's creator and artist development for the Asia Pacific region, said the company chose Korea for its next destination of the creator supporting program because the country has a "dynamic creator ecosystem." He added it is seeking to nurture its video creator community in Korea as the country has a slew of content creators that have a global impact.
"Korea is an incredibly important country for YouTube. We've seen over 200 channels with 1 million plus subscribers and more than 2,000 channels with 100,000 plus subscribers. We've created a dynamic creator ecosystem in Korea," Lefkowitz said.
"While this NextUp is focused on gaming creators, we will continue to support the overall Korean creator ecosystem so that even more creators can share their stories with the global audience on YouTube," he added.
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