BODA's Growth Formula: One Talk Format, Four Series, 3.14M Subscribers
Key Takeaways
- · 보다 BODA는 구글 코리아 '2025 유튜브 한국 최고 인기 크리에이터 TOP10' 9위, 이코노미스트 '2026 파워 유튜버 100' 44위에 선정된 구독자 314만 지식 토크 채널입니다.
- · 같은 전문가 패널 토크 포맷을 과학·역사·군사·여행 시리즈 4개로 복제했고, 각 시리즈 대표 영상이 최근 90일 기준 모두 100만 조회를 넘었습니다.
- · 시리즈 분업 덕에 최근 90일 87편(롱폼 80편), 주 6–7편의 고빈도 업로드가 유지됩니다.
- · 정영진·김범준·지웅배 등 패널 각자가 개인 채널과 저서를 가진 캐스팅 구조가 채널과 패널의 상호 성장 순환을 만듭니다.
- · 책 3권+만화판, 북 콘서트, 지식재산처 협업 등 IP가 영상 밖으로 확장 중이며 시리즈 체제는 더 늘어날 가능성이 높습니다.
An expert panel talk channel is a format where several specialists - scientists, historians, professors - sit around one table and answer viewers' questions in conversation. The channel that has grown this format the most in Korea is BODA, with 3.14 million subscribers.
No. 9 by Google Korea, No. 44 by Economist: Two External Rankings
BODA holds two external rankings: No. 9 in Google Korea's '2025 Most Popular Creators in Korea' and No. 44 in Economist Korea's '2026 Power YouTuber 100'. Google Korea compiles its list annually based on subscriber growth trends. Awesome Entertainment, the media company behind BODA, placed two channels in the TOP10 at once: Knowledge Inside at No. 3 and BODA at No. 9. Economist Korea's '2026 Power YouTuber 100' also ranked BODA at No. 44, describing it as a leading knowledge channel where experts in science, history, crime, and psychology discuss everything from everyday curiosities to academic topics in conversational form.
An education-category talk channel reaching entertainment-tier rankings raises an obvious question: how? The answer sits inside the channel - one talk format replicated into four series, swapping only the panel.
Same Format, Different Panel: A Four-Series Comparison Matrix
Sorting BODA's most-viewed videos from the last 90 days by series reveals the structure. Science BODA, History BODA, That Day BODA (military history), and 'Thought It Was a Trip BODA' (scientist travelogue) all share the same skeleton - expert panel plus host questions - while changing topic and cast. Each series' flagship episode exceeded one million views.
| Series | Topic | Flagship episode (last 90 days) | Views |
|---|---|---|---|
| That Day BODA | War and military | EP.33 Vietnam War | 1.84M |
| Science BODA | General science | EP.187 The science of drugs | 1.75M |
| Thought It Was a Trip BODA | Scientist travelogue | Ep.01 New Zealand | 1.26M |
| History BODA | World history | EP.136 China rock mountain mystery | 1.18M |
| Channel long-form average | - | 80 videos | 0.56M |
Flagship episodes run two to three times the channel's long-form average.
보다 BODA 시리즈별 대표 영상 조회수 (최근 90일)
* Source: Dhesy
The newest series, 'Thought It Was a Trip BODA', compresses the replication strategy: its first episode, released June 5, 2026, drew 1.26 million views per Dhesy data.
A panel combination proven in the studio was moved outdoors into a travel format, and the very first episode more than doubled the channel's long-form average. With the format and cast pre-validated, the launch risk of a new series drops sharply.
The Panel Is the Channel: Casting Experts Who Have Their Own Brands
This replication works because of the casting structure. Host Jung Young-jin has been described in Korean media as a 'new media heavyweight' whose combined channels - Maebul Show, 3PRO TV, BODA - exceed four million subscribers. The fixed panel members carry independent brands too: physicist Kim Bum-jun of Sungkyunkwan University, astronomer Ji Woong-bae of Sejong University who runs his own channel 'Cosmic Dust', and Seoul National University's Suh Kyun-ryul.
Because each panelist has personal channels and books, a loop forms: the channel grows the panelists, and the panelists bring audiences back. Kim Bum-jun and Jung Young-jin writing blurbs for Ji Woong-bae's new book shows how naturally the cross-exposure happens. It operates less like guest booking and more like a team.
87 Videos in 90 Days: Series Division of Labor
The channel's output is impossible without series-level division of labor. Per Dhesy data for the last 90 days (2026-04-05 to 2026-07-04), BODA uploaded 87 videos - six to seven per week. Eighty were long-form and seven were Shorts; BODA's Shorts are derivative clips cut from full episodes, so this analysis is done at the long-form level.
| Metric | Value (last 90 days, Dhesy data) |
|---|---|
| Subscribers | 3.14M |
| Videos uploaded | 87 |
| Long-form | 80 |
| Shorts (derivative clips) | 7 |
| Long-form average views | 558K |
| Total channel videos | 1,962 |
With four series each advancing their own episodes, one series only needs one or two uploads a week for the channel to total six or seven. A single series would exhaust its material at this pace, but splitting the topic pool across science, history, military, and travel lightens each series' load. The high upload frequency is a result of structure, not individual effort - that is the core of this channel.
A BTS Jimin Shout-Out and Three Books: IP Beyond Video
Once the format was proven, the IP expanded beyond video. In April 2026, Korean media reported that BTS's Jimin was seen watching a Science BODA episode during a livestream - a 'world-star shout-out' moment. The episode, released about two years earlier, was hosted by Jung Young-jin with professor Kang In-uk among the guests.
Publishing is even more systematic. 'Science BODA' launched as a book in November 2023, when the channel had 1.57 million subscribers, and has since grown to three volumes plus a comic edition, with a book concert held for volume three. 'History BODA' has reached two volumes. Institutional ties are growing too: a content collaboration with the Korean Intellectual Property Office for Invention Day, and a donation to the KIST Future Foundation for science talent. Commercial sponsorships are folded into series as well - the New Zealand episodes of the travel series were produced with New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, the channel's most frequent brand partner at seven collaborations in Dhesy data. How sponsored video titles affect views is covered separately in our analysis of 4,978 sponsored video titles.
Like Science BODA EP.187 with its 1.75 million views, a single video now feeds a funnel that ends in book readers and concert audiences.
Counterpoints, Limits, and What Aspiring Creators Can Take
This growth formula has prerequisites. Expert panel talk requires booking power and a production organization. Behind BODA stands Awesome Entertainment, with editing and planning staff running four series simultaneously. A solo creator cannot copy this structure as-is. There is also dependency risk: the channel's identity leans on panelists' personal brands, and losing Jung Young-jin or Kim Bum-jun would be a crisis.
Strip away the scale, though, and a principle remains: validate one format, then replicate it by swapping only the topic and the people. BODA built four series - science, history, military, travel - on a single 'expert talk' skeleton, producing 87 videos in 90 days and 3.14 million subscribers. Given how the IP has already extended into books, concerts, and institutional partnerships, the next step is likely series spin-offs or a permanent offline program. The four-series system looks set to keep growing.
FAQ
Q. What kind of channel is BODA and who runs it?
A knowledge talk channel with 3.14 million subscribers, produced and operated by YouTube media company Awesome Entertainment. Expert panels discuss science, history, military affairs, and travel in conversational series, and the channel ranked ninth in Google Korea's 2025 Most Popular Creators TOP10.
Q. Who are the regular cast members of Science BODA?
MC Jung Young-jin hosts, with regulars including Sungkyunkwan University physicist Kim Bum-jun, Sejong University astronomer Ji Woong-bae (who runs the 'Cosmic Dust' channel), and Seoul National University's Suh Kyun-ryul, joined by specialists from other fields per episode.
Q. Have Science BODA and History BODA been published as books?
Yes. 'Science BODA' has grown to three volumes plus a comic edition since its first volume in November 2023, and 'History BODA' has two volumes. A book concert celebrated the release of Science BODA volume three.
Q. How often does BODA upload?
Per Dhesy data, 87 videos in the last 90 days (2026-04-05 to 2026-07-04) - six to seven per week, 80 of them long-form. The division of labor across four series sustains this frequency.
Methodology: Based on Dhesy platform data covering 6,500 brands and 11,406 channels. Analysis period: 2026-04-05 to 2026-07-04 (last 90 days). Collaboration and view statistics are limited to Dhesy's collected scope and may differ from the channel's full activity. Data source: Dhesy Last updated: 2026-07-05