A 14-year-old middle schooler earns an average of $1,500 a night just by broadcasting himself online while eating noodles.
This South Korean trend called "Mukbang" that is a derived word from a combination of the word "muk-ja," which means eat in Korean, and "bang-song," which means "broadcast.". It is a type of online performance in which someone eats large quantities of food, while interacting with their audience, for apparent entertainment value. The said broadcast trend has been popular for quite some time and it has engaged thousands of food enthusiasts and foodies alike.
It usually features a single person enthusiastically eating a ton of food while streaming the whole process on the internet. It has been highly popular since a lot of people in South Korea, live alone and this form of online entertainment gave them a vicarious experience of eating with someone sans the actual face-to-face presence, creating a sense of community with the lonesome eaters.
"I feel as though that's what the show is about. And it's probably comforting for people who eat alone," one viewer commented on the video.
The food eating performers are called broadcast jockeys or "BJ" and they earn online while their online viewers send them "star balloons" which converts to 10 cents each. One particular BJ, a 14-year-old middle schooler, which goes by the name of "Patoo" earns $1,500 a night, just by streaming his gastronomic feats online.
According to Korea Portal, the most popular performers are those BJ's that communicates to their audiences while "slurping their food as loudly as possible". The more sound they share, the more they gain popularity from fans and followers of this trend thus equating to more money for the BJ.
The online streaming usually runs for 2-3 hours per night and the BJ's get to eat a selection of different foods like pizza, noodles, rice and dumplings.
To get a taste of BJ Patoo eating while streaming, you can click here.
