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| Actors Song Hye-kyo, left, and Song Joong-ki enter the Kyung Hee University Peace Hall together for the Baeksang Arts Awards in this June 2016 file photo. The two married the next year. Husband Song filed for divorce last week, after less than two years of marriage. / Korea Times file |
YouTube creators earning views from breakup of Song-Song couple
By Kang Hyun-kyung
YouTube channels covering stories about celebrities have been enjoying a rare boost in the wake of the breakup of star couple Song Joong-ki and Song Hye-kyo.
Unconvinced by the two Songs' official statements about the reason behind their breakup, internet users are flocking to channels claiming to provide the backstory to satisfy their curiosity.
"Entertainment Editor" run by former journalist Kim Young-ho is one of the largest beneficiaries. The YouTube channel's first episode about the Song-Song couple with the sensational title of "Unfaithful Wife Song?" which was uploaded on Thursday, has had over 1 million views in four days. It is the highest number of views on any video since Kim launched his channel in January this year.
Kim was upbeat about the record number of views, admitting his channel benefitted from the Song-Song couple breakup, although their stories are sad.
"When I opened this channel, I didn't have high expectations," he said in his latest video released on Sunday. "I thought I would be very happy if my channel could have 10,000 or more subscribers and worried that number might just be wishful thinking. But now my channel has over 200,000 subscribers. A nice surprise, but honestly I feel growing pressure as the number of subscribers continues to go up."
Kim uploaded two videos about the star couple after husband Song's lawyer "kindly informed" the local media last week that the actor filed for divorce.
The second video about the Song-Song couple deals with an alleged "China factor" behind their estranged relationship. The second video has garnered some 260,000 views as of Monday morning, only 13 hours after it was uploaded.
Another YouTube channel "Garo Sero Institute" hosted by former lawmaker and lawyer Kang Yong-seok also saw a surge of subscribers, as well as video views after the channel released videos about the star couple. Entertainment is one of the two priority topics of the channel. The other is Kang's specialist topic ― politics.
Kang teamed up with Kim and another former journalist Kim Se-ui when they discussed the star couple and their past love affairs.
Garo Sero uploaded a video, "Wrapping up Rumors about Song Joong-ki, Song Hye-kyo and Park Bo-gum," on Saturday. The video has over 350,000 views, more than double the average views of their past videos on politics. Over 10,000 internet users joined the live chat when the video was streaming.
Kang and his two guests shared what they know about the three celebrities and the rumor about the role of actor Park behind the couple's split. Kim dismissed the "Park Bo-gum factor," saying the rumor is "nonsensical."
He speculated that the two Songs were probably not meant to be together from the start.
Kim called actor Song Joong-ki "a man of character," noting he is a rare celebrity who is humble and down to earth.
"He is not quite like a top star," said Kim. "He is humble, well-mannered and very polite. Even after he rose to stardom through the mega hit TV series "Descendants of the Sun," there was no change in his demeanor and he's still humble."
According to Kim, years ago Song was offered a contract with an unnamed Chinese entertainment agency after he rose to stardom in Asia through the huge success of the TV series. Kim said he "scooped" the news based on reliable sources and so is very familiar with it. "I met Song Joong-ki after the news report. He was upset at me for reporting the story and told me he had no intention of signing with the Chinese agency," said Kim.
The former journalist said Song took his relationship with his Korean agency "very seriously," so he didn't want to rock the boat for his own sake.
"While seeing his reaction, I realized Song is too naive and in a way he is unfit for show business. Stars are chasing money and no one is going to blame them when they sign contracts with the agencies that offer attractive deals. But Song was not like that."
People tune into YouTube channels whenever big news breaks. The mainstream media is not allowed to tell the stories if doing so can constitute violations of law, such as privacy protection or defamation. Such a policy sometimes leads to the public's limited access to the truth.
To satisfy their curiosity, some members of the public often turn to other sources in hope of finding out what's really going on.
This seems to be the case for the star couple's breakup. The two Songs each released statements regarding their marriage and how they came to reach conclusion to divorce.
Husband Song said he was "hurt" while maintaining marriage with his wife and would like to end it quietly while not playing the blame game. Wife Song mentioned "irreconcilable differences" as a reason behind the breakup. Like other couples' positions on their divorce statements, the Song-Song couple's statements were not specific about the real reasons behind their decision to part ways and end their short marriage.
YouTube creators with expertise in entertainment news vow to give the unsatisfied public the star couple's breakup backstory.
