Sensational character Pengsoo generates W10 billion in revenue in 9 months

Pengsoo / Courtesy of Giant Peng TV

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.