Park Ji-won is a writer for The Korea Times who has been covering a wide range of topics from Korea’s culture to its politics. An avid journalism enthusiast to the core, Ji-won brings a thoughtful and unique perspective to every topic she covers. On weekends, you'll often find her contemplating life’s purpose on a yoga mat — with a cup of quality tea in hand. A native Korean speaker by birth and fluent in English through her work, she went to college in Japan and is learning Chinese and French — hoping to add Polish, Russian and Thai to the mix.
Sensational character Pengsoo generates W10 billion in revenue in 9 months
Pengsoo / Courtesy of Giant Peng TV
By Park Ji-won
By Park Ji-won
EBS' original character Pengsoo generated over 1 billion won in revenue over nine months, according to data from a lawmaker.
The data from Rep. Jo Myung-hee, EBS, a television network centered on education, showed that Pengsoo, a large anthropomorphic character, generated up to 10.1 billion won ($8.53 million) from November last year to July this year from appearing in ads (2.8 billion won), selling intellectual property rights (1.4 billion won) and licensing revenue (5.8 billion won).
The genderless character, debuted in March 2019, soared to stardom last year, resonating with Koreans because of its self-confidence as a penguin who doesn't hesitate to give critical comments to anybody regardless of their position. The character has been commercialized via multiple products such as emojis, toys and books. The figure was originally targeted at elementary school students, but ended up gaining popularity with all age groups. Pengsoo's Youtube channel “Giant Peng TV” has over 2.08 million subscribers as of Sept. 2. Since last year, the character and relevant programs have won multiple broadcast awards.
EBS said the revenue was distributed between the character's actor (the human in the penguin suit) and its management company. But it declined to reveal its portion citing it as a trade secret. According to the answer sheet from EBS, the details of the distribution are protected by a non-disclosure agreement.