Local governments spend 11.3 billion won on boosting YouTube channels

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Local governments spend 11.3 billion won on boosting YouTube channels

Published: 08 Apr. 2025, 09:55 Updated: 08 Apr. 2025, 21:01

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

The Seoul Metropolitan Government's official YouTube channel [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Seventeen metropolitan and provincial governments in Korea spent more than 11.3 billion won ($7.6 million) between 2021 and 2023 to promote their YouTube channels — often outsourcing to marketing firms that quietly inflate views and subscribers to meet performance goals.

According to the JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily, 752 ad campaigns were commissioned via the Korea Press Foundation during that period. Busan led spending with a 428 million won campaign in 2022 to promote its bid for the 2030 World Expo. Gangwon allocated 260 million won to tourism ads in 2021, while Seoul spent 200 million won promoting the Lee Hoe-yeong Memorial Hall.

The Busan Metropolitan City Hall's official YouTube channel [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Gyeonggi and South Jeolla also spent heavily. Gyeonggi used 165 million won in 2023 for general promotional content, and South Jeolla spent 141 million won on a campaign featuring the influencer “Korean Englishman” for its Visit Jeonnam Year.

While YouTube ads are commonly used to push content to users, many local governments define success by views and subscribers, encouraging agencies to quietly hire firms that artificially inflate numbers.

“There’s pressure to show fast results,” said a digital PR official at a metropolitan government. “Production firms often set aside budget to pay private companies to boost views. Some local governments even mandate specific view and subscriber targets and minimum ad spending per video.”

North Gyeongsang, operator of the Boisotv channel, spent the most on YouTube-related work from 2021 to 2023, with 2.7 billion won.

Busan followed with 1.95 billion won, then Seoul at 987 million, Gyeonggi at 955 million and South Chungcheong at 850 million.

A North Gyeongsang official said less than 10 percent of production budgets go toward YouTube ad promotion.

Data obtained via information disclosure requests showed how dependent the campaigns are on ads. From 2021 to 2023, the average total views for government-run YouTube channels were 6.29 million, with 77.8 percent — about 5.63 million — coming from paid ads.

Busan had the highest ad view ratio at 97.3 percent, followed by Gyeonggi at 95.8 percent and Incheon at 92.9 percent. In contrast, Chungju’s ChungTV, operated by civil servant Kim Seon-tae, had a zero percent ad view rate, meaning it used no paid promotions.

Some governments also rely on unofficial services to inflate numbers. Boosting 50 Korean subscribers costs around 25,000 won, while buying 100,000 views can cost up to 780,000 won. A private marketing firm told the JoongAng Ilbo, “All we need is a video or channel link to begin.”

Kim Min-ki, honorary professor of media and communication at Soongsil University, criticized the practice.

“It’s concerning for public institutions to spend money promoting their own platforms,” he said. “They should focus on making content that earns attention organically.”


Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.

BY SON SUNG-BAE [[email protected]]