The Pinkfong Company, renowned for its Baby Shark character, announced on Jun. 3 that the cumulative views of its content on YouTube have surpassed 100 billion. This follows their previous milestones: entering the Billboard Hot 100 at 32nd place with the nursery rhyme ‘Baby Shark’ in 2019 and surpassing 10 billion views with the ‘Baby Shark Dance’ video in 2022, making it the first single video to achieve this feat on YouTube.
Kim Min-seok (43), CEO of The Pinkfong Company, shared the secrets behind their success in an interview with the Chosunilbo on May. 29, just before reaching the 100 billion views milestone. He said, “We continuously modified the character design to maintain public interest and consistently learned about the cultures of various language regions to incorporate them into our characters, aiming to reach children worldwide.”
The Pinkfong Company provides around 7,000 pieces of content in a total of 25 languages, including Korean, English, and Spanish, on YouTube. The total view count of all these contents has now exceeded 100 billion, with the combined total watch time reaching 680,000 years. Among these, the ‘Baby Shark Dance’ currently holds the record for the most-viewed single video on YouTube with about 14.6 billion views.
Kim, who has had a fondness for computers and games since childhood, self-taught game and chat program development during his high school years and leveraged this skill to get into Yonsei University. He worked in planning and development at gaming companies like Nexon and NHN before joining Samsung Publishing, founded by his grandfather, in 2008. Foreseeing the potential in children’s content tailored for smartphones, he founded SmartStudy (the predecessor of The Pinkfong Company) in 2010.
Kim stated that his experience working at a game company before establishing the company was significantly beneficial. “In the gaming industry, continuous updates are necessary to retain users, and I applied this tactic to the character business,” he explained.
For instance, Pinkfong, a character he personally created in 2012, was initially a bright pink fox to leave a strong impression. As the character gained recognition, its color was gradually lightened, and its shape was modified to resemble a human more closely, making it more approachable. This concept of constant updates, akin to game development, was applied to the character.
He said, “While games and children’s content might seem like completely different areas, they both need to be fun and require continuous updates to keep users satisfied.”
The Pinkfong Company began gaining global popularity with the release of the ‘Pinkfong Baby Shark Dance’ video in 2016. At that time, the video was one of many animal songs the company was producing, but its popularity surged in conjunction with its success on YouTube.
Kim noted, “We believed that songs that are easy to sing along with would be successful, and among the hundreds of videos we made, one hit the jackpot.” In 2022, the company was also listed among the ‘100 Most Influential Companies in the World’ by TIME magazine.
Kim mentioned that they consistently monitor sensitivity to ensure children worldwide, including those in Asia, North America, and South America, are not hurt by their content. For instance, if they receive feedback like “Why are black characters depicted with curly hair?” they immediately address it in subsequent content.
He expressed ambitions for the offline market, stating, “Considering the longevity of characters, it’s inevitable.” He added, “Although the main revenue will continue to come from online, it is crucial for 500 people to gather offline and say, ‘I like this character too,’ and share conversations.” He emphasized that this shared experience and empathy are essential for a character’s longevity. “Children who grew up watching Pinkfong should continue to seek it out with their own children when they become adults,” he concluded.
