Mukbang Influencers Earn Up To Six Figures Simply By Eating

If you're single this Valentine's Day, why not just watch a video of a mukbang influencer and pretend you're on a date?

If you're wondering what mukbang influencers are, they're a group of people getting paid massive sums of money to shovel sustenance in their gob.

Mukbang is a type of live online broadcast which first became popular in South Korea and involves a host eating food while interacting with their audience.

Give me some Frank's hot sauce and sign me up to be a mukbang influencer now.

They're not competitive eaters or those employed by big-name businesses to be taste testers. They're simply social media influencers.

These people literally get paid to eat food while having a chat to their followers. They can have small plates or large meals of seafood as well as sauces galore. And they're getting large amounts of money for it.

Kim Thai is now earning six-figure annual sums after quitting her job just to be a Mukbang influencer.

Ms Thai launched her YouTube channel, Eat with Kim, and in just eight months she had more than 200,000 followers.

Speaking with Cosmopolitan, she said ever since the channel went live she's been bombarded with sponsorship deals with the likes of DoorDash and Pepto-Bismol. But she wasn't confident she could make a 'career' out of mukbang.

She said: "It was a super nerve-racking move and a big leap. But looking back, I'm so glad I decided to follow my heart."

"And to know that my videos are something that people look forward to watching reminds me why I started."

You're probably wondering who would watch someone slap some sauce on their food and eat it when they can just go and do it themselves. Kim-Hae Jin, doctoral candidate from Chosun University, has suggested that someone can satisfy their cravings for food by watching others eat.

Funny that, I seem to just get hungrier.

Kim Thai now boasts more than 400,000 followers, but she's a small fish in a very large pond. Some of the biggest names in mukbang, like Banzz, Mbro and Shugi have millions of loyal supporters.

So there is even more money to be made if you can reach the top spot.

Featured Image Credit: Kim Thai/YouTube

Topics: Food, News, Australia

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie