폭염 22.1배, 캠핑 0.6배: 여름 유튜브 키워드 10개 분석

On July 12, the cities of Gyeongsan and Pohang in North Gyeongsang Province received Korea's first-ever 'extreme heat emergency alert' - the highest tier of a heat advisory system overhauled for the first time in 18 years. The perceived temperature that day reached 39 degrees Celsius, a story carried widely by Edaily and other outlets. During the same period, something quieter was happening on YouTube: videos tagged with the keyword 'heatwave' (pokyeom) jumped from about one upload per week in May to 80 in the first week of July. This is a record of ten summer keywords, from heatwave to camping, measured against a single yardstick of weekly uploads.

The Summer That Forced a New Alert Tier: Korea's Heat Advisory Overhaul After 18 Years

Starting this summer, Korea's heat advisory system changed for the first time in 18 years. Alerts are now based on perceived temperature rather than air temperature, and two new tiers were added: the extreme heat emergency alert above the existing watch and warning levels, and a tropical night advisory for nighttime heat. Civic News noted that everything changed, from the thresholds for heat watches and warnings to the newly introduced emergency alert and tropical night advisory.

The new system did not wait long. On July 12, Gyeongsan and Pohang received the first extreme heat emergency alert since the tier was created, at a perceived temperature of 39 degrees. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency's emergency room surveillance system, cumulative heat-related illness cases had already reached 535 by July 10. In a summer severe enough to require a new alert tier, we looked to weekly upload data for what was happening on the screens people watch.

From 1 Video a Week to 80: Two Months of Heatwave Videos on YouTube

By Dhesy's weekly keyword aggregates, 'heatwave' uploads peaked at 4 in the week of May 11 and otherwise averaged about one per week in May. They rose gradually to 9 in the week of June 15 and 14 in the week of June 22, then climbed to 43 in the week of June 29 as heat advisories spread nationwide, and to 80 in the week of July 6, when the first emergency alert was issued. With 61 channels participating, this was not one channel uploading repeatedly but many channels moving at once.

To set a baseline for the same period, here are the combined uploads of three season-neutral evergreen keywords (mukbang, vlog, challenge) side by side.

Evergreen keywords also grew over this window. How much of the heatwave surge is real, then? We unpack the adjustment math shortly.

Ten Summer Keywords Ranked on One Yardstick

Comparing each keyword's week-of-July-6 uploads against its May weekly average, then dividing out the general growth of the evergreen control group, heatwave leads at an adjusted 22.1x. Samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup) follows at 5.9x, watermelon at 3.9x, and air conditioner at 3.4x, while sea, valley, bingsu, and water play cluster in the 2x range. With the caveat that these statistics cover the channels Dhesy collects, the full table:

The bottom two rows need explaining: camping's 0.6x and chobok's 'not computable'. We cover those reversals below, but first, what this adjusted multiplier actually is.

Why 22.1x, Not 80x: Reading a Surge With a Control Group

The raw multiplier for the heatwave keyword is 80x - from one video a week to 80. This article uses 22.1x because of the control group. Season-neutral keywords like mukbang, vlog, and challenge also grew 3.6x over the same window, from 165.2 to 598 weekly uploads, a figure that mixes growth in data collection coverage with a general rise in uploads. So we divide each seasonal keyword's raw multiplier by the control group's 3.6x and treat only that adjusted figure as evidence of a surge.

The principle of not taking numbers at face value is the same approach we applied in our April sponsorship market analysis, where sponsored video counts and brand counts were read separately.

The adjusted multiplier has limits of its own. We cannot precisely separate how much of the control group's 3.6x is collection growth, and more uploads does not mean viewing demand rose at the same rate. View counts can be inflated by in-stream ad exposure, so this article treats them only as a secondary indicator.

Camping at 0.6x: The Keyword That Didn't Rise in Summer

Camping came in at an adjusted 0.6x, below even the evergreen baseline. It was already the most-uploaded of the ten summer keywords in May at 24.2 videos per week, and while it grew to 56 in the week of July 6, that increase was smaller than the evergreen keywords' general growth. The natural reading: camping is not a summer-spike keyword but a year-round category produced steadily in all seasons.

On the opposite end sits chobok, the first of Korea's three 'dog days' of summer. It had zero uploads in May - no multiplier can be computed - then 11 videos appeared from 10 channels in the week of July 6. It is an event keyword that emerges from zero as the date approaches. Two types that a multiplier ranking can miss, the always-present low-multiplier keyword and the appears-from-nothing keyword, sit in the same table.

The Same Graph Off-Screen: 385% Air Conditioner Sales and a Million Ice Cups

The upload surge points the same direction as off-screen consumption. According to Korea Economic Daily, price comparison service Danawa recorded a 385% month-on-month jump in air conditioner sales over roughly a month from late April. Ourhome expanded its institutional cafeteria samgyetang volume for chobok on July 15 to 180,000 servings, up 29% from last year, and Newsis reported that GS25 convenience stores sold one million ice cups in a single weekend as watermelon, frozen desserts, and iced drinks all hit their highest sales of the year.

Viewer response moved in step. Likes per 1,000 views on air conditioner videos rose from 10.7 in May to 20 in the week of July 6, and on samgyetang videos from 24.3 to 38.6 - supporting evidence that engagement density deepened alongside upload volume.

Jungbok July 25, Malbok August 14: The 20-Day 'Wolbok' Window

This year's boknal calendar runs chobok July 15, jungbok July 25, and malbok August 14. The 20-day gap between jungbok and malbok, known as 'wolbok', stretches the health-food season longer than usual. The Hanwoo Board's move to broaden its summer beef recommendations in response to the prolonged heat fits the same pattern.

Which channels capture this seasonal window will vary by category, as we saw in our analysis of sponsorship channel concentration by industry. Extending the wave the keyword data has shown, health-food and cooling keywords are likely to crest once more through mid-August, when malbok arrives. The seasonal keyword window is open longer than usual this summer.

FAQ

Q. How did Korea's heat advisory criteria change in 2026?

The system was overhauled this summer for the first time in 18 years. Perceived temperature replaced air temperature as the official criterion, and two tiers were added: the extreme heat emergency alert above the existing watch and warning levels, and the tropical night advisory. The first emergency alert under the new system was issued for Gyeongsan and Pohang on July 12.

Q. What should you do when an extreme heat emergency alert is issued?

The KDCA issued heat illness prevention guidance alongside the first emergency alert. With cumulative heat-related illness cases reaching 535 by July 10, the priorities are reducing outdoor activity during hours when perceived temperatures reach 39 degrees and following local guidance in alert areas.

Q. When are chobok, jungbok, and malbok in 2026?

Chobok is July 15, jungbok July 25, and malbok August 14. The 20-day gap between jungbok and malbok makes this a 'wolbok' year with a longer-than-usual health-food season. On YouTube, samgyetang keyword uploads rose to 30 in the week of July 6 (adjusted 5.9x).

Q. Do methods for lowering perceived temperature actually work?

Institutionally, perceived temperature is now the official measure of heat severity - an overhaul reflecting that the body's burden varies with humidity and other conditions even at the same air temperature. The effectiveness of individual cooling products varies too much by condition to generalize; following basic precautions during alerts comes first.

Methodology: Based on Dhesy platform data covering 6,698 brands and 674,381 collaborations. Weekly upload aggregates for 10 summer keywords and 3 evergreen keywords (mukbang, vlog, challenge), 2026-04-27 to 2026-07-12 KST; weeks from July 13 onward were excluded as collection is still in progress. Seasonal surge multipliers are adjusted by dividing out the evergreen control group's growth (3.6x). All statistics are limited to channels collected by Dhesy. Data source: Dhesy External sources: Civic News, Edaily, Korea Economic Daily Last updated: 2026-07-19