Heo Geum, 43, is the creator of Geuma, a YouTube channel that has drawn a large following for its driving tips and car-maintenance know-how. What began as a project to share advice on safer driving has grown into a full-time operation centered on road tests of vehicles brought to him by subscribers and clients, along with guidance on their condition. He spoke with the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, on July 24 at a cafe in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, where he lives.

Cars serve both as practical tools in everyday life and as a popular hobby, particularly among men. New and used vehicles each carry their own appeal, and driving tips and maintenance know-how attract considerable interest online — the environment in which Geuma has found its audience. In South Korea, used-car transactions have outnumbered new-car sales in recent years, and checking a used vehicle’s condition before purchase is a common concern for buyers.

From dealership advisor to civil servant

Heo graduated from an automotive engineering department and began his career as an advisor at an imported-car dealership, where he worked until his late 20s, dealing with customers and handling communications at a service center. He eventually left when the economy worsened. Having always loved driving and cars, he decided to become a driving-duty civil servant, and after preparing for the job he joined a local government at age 29, working as a civil servant for about 14 years.

His attachment to machines goes back to childhood. Growing up in the countryside, he began driving a cultivator in sixth grade while helping with persimmon farming, and in middle school he drove a tractor to plow and level rice paddies. “I found it fascinating to work with machines and drive them,” he said. That fascination is why he insisted on attending an automotive engineering department in high school, even though people tried to talk him out of it.

A near-miss that launched the channel

In the fall of 2018, while driving a 5-ton roll-off truck on a national road, he narrowly avoided a trailer coming toward him at full speed. “It was a near-death experience,” he recalled. Afterwards, he thought it would be useful to share with others how to respond to various situations while driving. He picked out topics such as how to use engine braking when going downhill on mountain roads and how to handle icy roads, and taught himself video editing.

At around the same time, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety issued a notice allowing civil servants to operate YouTube channels with permission from their local government heads. Heo applied immediately and received permission. For the next two or three years, he squeezed video production into his time outside work, mainly producing useful tips aimed at safer driving.

Leaving the civil service

When the channel reached around 100,000 subscribers in 2022 — the milestone at which YouTube presents creators with its Silver Play Button — he felt it would be difficult to continue doing both jobs. He loved his work as a civil servant, so the stress of making the decision was considerable. His family encouraged him, and he felt that continuing both jobs “wasn’t fair to the subscribers who had put their trust in me.” He told himself, “If I become a full-time YouTuber and it doesn’t work out, I can always find another job” — a framing that helped him decide without putting too much pressure on himself.

From racing simulator to the TCR podium

A younger friend from his hometown one day appeared in the news as the season champion in professional racing. As an automotive YouTuber, Heo contacted him and visited his house to see what he was doing. The friend had a racing simulator that allowed practice in an environment more than 90 percent similar to actual driving, and Heo bought an entry-level setup and began practicing at home.

It happened to be during the COVID-19 pandemic, when offline racing events had come to a standstill and simulation competitions were being held instead, and his friend suggested he give it a try. Heo joined a three-person team consisting of an actual racing driver, a simulation racer and an influencer; as the influencer, he helped the team finish fourth overall in the Korean season. In 2022, he reached eighth in the overall Korean rankings. Last year, he went to Japan and competed in TCR (Touring Car Racing), a front-wheel-drive racing series based on production cars, at the Honda Mobility Resort Motegi circuit, finishing second overall.

Finding a format: the used-car test

At first, he made a variety of driving-information videos, from parking tips to tire-pressure settings, but after a while he ran out of topics and decided to turn himself into a character. He began speaking in a country-bumpkin-style regional dialect, which many viewers found entertaining. He also began reviewing cars, and then started testing used cars that subscribers or acquaintances had bought, advising them on the condition of the vehicles. Viewers were very satisfied, and over the past two or three years this has become the main focus of his content.

He handles filming and editing alone. He cannot afford two producers, and he also chose to work solo because he thinks viewers like the raw, unpolished feel of the videos. Sometimes he mounts cameras inside the car, while the person who requested the test helps by filming from the passenger seat with an action camera. The image quality may not be the best, but he believes it helps viewers feel a sense of connection. He does all the editing himself, learning by watching YouTube videos, and usually films for one or two hours before cutting the footage down to 20 or 30 minutes.

Withdrawn videos and negative comments

One recurring problem is being asked not to upload a video after everything has already been filmed; another is negative comments. Once, someone asked him to accompany them to help buy a used car. He went along, inspected the vehicle and everything ended well, but afterward the person made various excuses and asked him not to upload the video.

As for comments, he initially tried to argue his case and determine who was right or wrong. These days he simply says, “If that’s how you saw it, I’ll work harder. I’m sorry,” and moves on. Sometimes the other person then responds, “A 300,000-subscriber YouTuber really is different. I’ll subscribe.”

The videos that broke through

A driving-information video titled “How to Respond to Sudden Unintended Acceleration,” made about three years ago, surpassed 3 million views in a short period, and at the time he gained around 3,000 subscribers a day. The topic has long drawn public attention in South Korea, where disputes between drivers and automakers over the causes of such incidents have been the subject of government investigations. Many videos about sudden unintended acceleration already existed, but he believes his stood out because he actually demonstrated how to respond to it while driving.

In another case, a friend who had bought a small SUV said it was shaking badly. Heo met him without even planning to make a video, casually filming on his cellphone while they talked; after they found and fixed the problem, he uploaded the footage. It surpassed 5 million views. He thinks the real-time process of figuring out the problem through a conversation with his friend caught viewers’ attention.

Why used cars

Content about tuning cars or buying expensive, high-performance vehicles naturally appeals to a limited audience, he noted, while used cars are something that most people consider buying at least once. After producing content for several years, he has developed a sense of which kinds of concepts tend to generate how many views, and he takes that into account when planning videos. Informational videos actually tend to get more views, but there is a limit to how many topics one can come up with.

How the channel earns

View-based revenue is the foundation. He uploads about seven to nine videos a month, and as a rough estimate, the number of views can be multiplied by 1.5 to 2 won ($0.0011 to $0.0015) per view, or around 1 won ($0.0007) for short-form videos. Because view counts fluctuate, so does his income. All told, he makes about the same as he did as a civil servant, or perhaps a little more. He also earns additional advertising revenue: advertisements for automotive products or traffic-accident lawyers come in from time to time. He receives advertising requests four or five times a day, but promoting products without properly checking them is difficult, so he does not advertise very often.

Advice for aspiring YouTubers

An acquaintance once asked him to advise his son, who was in his 20s and wanted to become a YouTuber. The son had not decided on a topic, so Heo asked what he liked. Working in real estate and playing soccer regularly, the young man was debating whether to make a football channel or a real-estate channel; asked which he found more enjoyable, he said football, and Heo told him to make a football channel.

But Heo added a caveat: even former national team football players have given up after reaching only 20,000 or 30,000 subscribers. “The barriers are that high,” he said. He advised that if the young man was not a former player, he should not make videos saying “I’m good at football,” but should instead approach it as if he were learning about football himself. The son began seeking out skilled players and interviewing them about football tips, and bought inexpensive soccer equipment from Daiso to review whether it was actually worth using. After two years, he had 40,000 subscribers.

“To succeed, you first have to do something you genuinely like,” Heo said. “And you have to be crazy about that subject. You can’t beat someone who is that passionate.” Creators, he added, should always approach content with the mindset that they are learning: “Keep practicing and keep working hard. That’s the best way.”

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times. Original article.