I handed over my business card and greeted him, and he said Hong In-gyu was also in business with his business card. His company name is SBP, and his title is Sangmu. "Oh, you were a managing director?" "I'm working hard as a managing director these days."
Hong has teamed up with former baseball player Shim Soo-chang to create a sports content company three months ago. Hong has four golf-related channels and graduates of baseball channel Kbo, including Hong In-gyu Golf TV, which has more than 330,000 subscribers and accumulated 130 million views, Yoon Seok-min Golf TV, Gong Tae-hyun TV, and Vivid Cho-yeon, which depicts the growth of amateur golfers.
When I saw Hong In-gyu and his businesses, I thought of a music video titled "Do you know Dr. Hong?" The short-length video, which begins with a comment and addictive beat, became popular among the younger generation this year. Hong In-gyu, who has new ideas in golf like this one, could be a "Do you know Mr. Hong?"
Hong In-gyu first opened his eyes to golf YouTube. Among the broadcasters, Kim Gu-ra, Kim Kook-jin, Heo Kyung-hwan, Bang Ji-soo, and Chung Myung-hoon followed the path that Hong In-gyu paved first. Hong says that he is a "gagman for a living" and that he was not good at making others laugh. Instead, he tried various contents through golf YouTube, making use of his specialty in gag planning. Zombie swing competition with a messed-up swing form and Squid Golf Game parodying the Netflix drama Squid Game were born as such.
When asked how he joined the YouTube channel, he said, "I did whatever I wanted to do to make ends meet." He said he became a comedian because he wanted to make money. Now that he has earned some money, he has a dream to raise a "golf idol."
Seated face to face with comedian Hong In-kyu, who wants to become a lucrative businessman, he talked about money, golf, and life. For your information, there is no such thing as a joke!
I've been playing golf YouTube since January 2019. I was the first celebrity to start.
"I did it by accident. It was really cold at the meeting place where our comedians had a meeting, but someone installed a heating device for us. Thankfully, I said I would help you if I needed anything, and the person said he wanted to do parenting YouTube. I'm also having a hard time with parenting at home, but I thought it would be too hard to even do YouTube with that. So, he suggested how about golf YouTube, and asked me to take a video of me playing screen golf with (Byeon) Ki-soo and upload it. Since I didn't have any money, I left it to the person who was filming and editing the wedding video. At first, there was no response, but after a while, I realized that the number of views exceeded 100,000. I wondered what this was. After that, I did it a little roughly. So, the number of views didn't come out. I worked hard again and the number of views came out well. I thought that the harder I work, the better it will come out, so I've been constantly posting videos and working on them since then. Now I'm focusing on this."
If you look at YouTube these days, it's not an era where people take pictures and upload them with their phones. Only the platform seems to cost a lot of money to produce YouTube.
"At first, I filmed a video with two cameras and a cell phone. However, as the broadcasting station came to YouTube, it was not possible to fight for quality. I had to invest little by little to increase one and increase another, and now I have 10 cameras. It also flies drones."
When producing one movie, the production cost will be high.
"If you complete the labor costs, filming, and editing, it costs about 40 million won to 50 million won a month."
YouTube is also an item fight. In that sense, I think it would be advantageous to be a comedian. Comedians always come up with new ideas and come up with their own content. >>
"There are different types of gagmen. There are those who are funny, those who support funny, and those who plan. I'm incorporating those technologies into YouTube because I'm planning."
Did you learn planning separately, or were you originally talented in that field? >>>
"It's not an attempt. Fun is the most important part of content, so I keep thinking about what to do and how to do something that others haven't done. That's how it comes out."
Have you been good at making others laugh since you were young?
"Actually, I'm not good at making others laugh. There are not many people who actually find me funny. I'm a comedian for a living. The reason I became a comedian was because someone I knew asked me to take a test with him. I followed him because I thought I could make a lot of money if I became a comedian, but he failed and I was the only one who stuck. There were so many funny people while working, but luckily, I found my way quickly and fell into the planning part."
If you plan well, your business skills are good.
"It's different from my business mindset. I think there's someone else who makes money. I realized it after I failed a lot while running a business. Now that I'm about 43, I have to do what I'm good at, and I know I can't do everything well. That was the case with golf for me. Since golf YouTube is doing well, I got a lot of suggestions for other topics. But I'm only doing golf and sports because I only want to do what I like and do well."
Is there anything you've done while filming YouTube?
"When the squid game became a big issue, I played 'Squid Golf Game' to imitate it." At that time, I went to Dongdaemun Market and made all the costumes of 32 participants, and rented the entire golf course at night to film it. They hit the numbers 1 to 32 in sequence, and if they fall into the water or penalty area, they are out. If they fall into the water or penalty area, they are out. If they send them to the OB area, they are out. If they make a double bogey, they are out. At that time, it was for the general public, but we are planning to invite professionals to the game when season 2 of Squid Game comes out next year."
If there's a memorable round.
"After playing night golf at Sky 72 (currently Club 72) in Incheon, I went to the show golf practice site at Gimpo Airport at around 1 a.m. It was when they were operating 24 hours a day. After practicing there for a while, I moved to Seo Seoul CC in Paju and joined the first team at 4:30 a.m. After enjoying golf for two days and one night without sleeping, I went to a Gag Concert meeting."
Among the celebrities, comedians seem to especially like golf, why do you think so?
"After analyzing them in their own way, they both have a lot of thoughts. But when I play golf, I can't think of anything else. As my brain relaxes a little, it's healing and I forget about my troubles. So I think comedians and businessmen have no choice but to like golf."
I heard your golf skills are quite good.
"I think I play well when I go out with my friends, but when I go out of sales, my score is not good unexpectedly. I don't play with that mindset, but I think mental strength is important in golf. If I make a bet with my friend, I play 78 shots, or 80 shots when I go out of sales. LaVe (life best score) is 1 under 71. "
Have you ever made a hole-in-one?
"I did it twice. I recorded it once at Yongin Plaza CC in 2019, and I did it again at Daegu CC in May this year, when my luck was almost over. I think hole-in-one brought good luck, considering that many broadcasting businesses are coming in these days. Haha."
When was the hole-in-one of life?
"It was when I became a comedian. Actually, I didn't know I would get in. I followed my friend and became the only one. I was so happy because it was my first time getting accepted."