사나고, 협찬 두 건뿐인 채널의 수익은 영상 밖에 있다

Sanago, who sculpts movie characters and game figures with a 3D pen, is a handmade creator with 4.12 million subscribers. Yet Dhesy data shows just a single sponsorship partner on record. For a channel with only two sponsorships, the revenue actually stretches widest outside the videos themselves.

Cafe Sanago: Revenue That Begins Where the Video Ends

The first offline touchpoint for Sanago, who has gathered 4.12 million subscribers, is "Cafe Sanago," located near Jungangno Station in Daeheung-dong, Daejeon. Not far from Sungsimdang, the cafe doubles as a small gallery, with one inner wall filled entirely with Sanago's 3D-pen works. A Snorlax from Pocopia, covered in moss, sits at the center of the cafe, and in the workroom visitors can book a 3D-pen workshop and learn the craft firsthand.

A work made famous through video becomes the reason to enter a physical space, and that space in turn becomes a counter selling goods.

According to Naver blog visit reviews, the cafe sells menu items like Nago macarons and filament ice cream alongside the art, plus goods such as grip-toks, badges, and T-shirts. The fashion magazine GQ Korea also featured this workroom as a stop on a Daejeon-Sungsimdang travel course, describing it as a place where you can meet the works you saw on YouTube in person and learn through a workshop.

The structure is one where the video creates reach for free, and that reach is settled at the cafe, a paid touchpoint. The key point is that the starting line of revenue is not a sponsorship rate but the demand created by his own IP.

With 4.12 Million Subscribers, Why Almost No Sponsorships?

A natural question arises here. A channel with 4.12 million subscribers must have had a steady stream of ad offers, so why do only a handful of sponsored videos show up?

By Dhesy data, Sanago posted 9 videos over the last 90 days, and only 2 of them carried ads. The remaining 7 are pure production content where he makes his own works with no sponsorship. Videos like sculpting Rocky from the film "Project Hail Mary" with a 3D pen, or building a Snorlax out of real moss, occupy the center of the channel.

This asymmetry is the starting point for understanding Sanago's revenue structure. Instead of using sponsorships as fuel for content, he chose the path of turning the content itself into products and spaces. Below, we follow the stages of that expansion in order: Sanago Shop, department-store pop-ups, and joining a management label.

For reference, most of Sanago's Shorts are edited cuts of the main production videos. So rather than pitting Shorts against long-form, this analysis focuses on how production works at the main-video level spread into revenue beyond the channel.

Sanago Shop: A Structure Where Videos Become Product Demand

The first branch to take hold in Sanago's expansion is his own products, and the demand created by 4.12 million subscribers is its starting point. According to Naver blog write-ups, he opened "Sanago Shop" in November 2018 and began selling the very 3D pens he uses in his videos. It did not stop at the pen; he broadened the line with accessory products like pattern books and filament.

The cleverness of this structure lies in where the demand is generated. The moment a viewer watches a production video and feels "I want to make that too," the pen and materials to catch that desire are already prepared as his own brand products. In fact, Sanago 3D pens are searched as Children's Day gifts and hobby supplies for elementary schoolers, with self-purchased reviews steadily piling up.

Comparing this to sponsorship-style revenue makes the difference clear.

Sponsorships are tied to the advertiser's schedule and end as one-offs, but own products lead to repeat purchases as long as the videos keep creating reach. In effect, the video becomes a catalog rather than a billboard.

Hyundai Department Store Pop-Ups and Exhibitions — An Offline Touchpoint for Online IP

The stage after own products was offline exposure. Hyundai Department Store opened a "Sanago 3D Pen Pop-Up Store" at its Sinchon and Pangyo branches, exhibiting and introducing his works. According to Edaily reporting, the Sinchon branch ran the pop-up on the second basement floor of U-Plex, and one outlet noted that 3D-pen works with a cumulative 50 million YouTube views were on display.

What is worth noting here is that the department store brought him in not as a simple tenant store but as "exhibition content." Because the works themselves act as a draw, the department store bought a spectacle, not a sales counter.

The offline touchpoints also extended into permanent spaces. The following table organizes how Sanago's off-channel activities have unfolded.

While a typical creator stays within video ads, Sanago has run three branches of offline touchpoints at once: exhibitions, lectures, and permanent spaces. It is a textbook path of moving IP built up online into offline cash flow.

Joining CAM: A Management Axis as the Next Step in Expansion

4.12 million subscribers, 2 sponsorships. This asymmetric channel added a new axis, management, in December 2025. According to reports from several outlets, Sanago joined CAM (CAM Withus) together with creator Cheonjae Lee Seung-guk. CAM is an entertainment label that counts Davichi, Joo Woo-jae, and 10cm among its roster.

The meaning of this move goes beyond a simple agency contract. While Sanago had been running the cafe, selling his own products, and collaborating with department stores at essentially an individual scale, the moment management is attached, things like goods licensing, brand collaborations, and event bookings can start running on an institutional footing. One report said CAM is, with the signing of Sanago, expanding its business beyond music and performance into digital creation as a whole.

In that it marks a turning point where an expansion run by hand as an individual shifts into an organization's business unit, this move comes close to an inflection point in Sanago's revenue diversification.

Sanago's Revenue Center of Gravity Seen Through Sponsorship Data

The fact that sponsorships sit at the channel's margins also shows up in the data. By Dhesy data, the sponsorship partner tied to Sanago is a single one, Blizzard Entertainment, with 2 collaborations. Considering the channel's scale built up over more than four years, the weight of advertising is remarkably light.

View patterns reinforce this center of gravity. Over the last 90 days, sponsored videos averaged about 280,000 views, while pure production videos with no sponsorship averaged about 410,000 views. It means that whether or not an advertiser is attached, what viewers come to watch is, in the end, Sanago's handiwork.

Advertisers have plenty of reason to covet this channel, but rather than taking in all those offers, Sanago chose to recover the demand his own works created directly through products and spaces. Sponsorships were a side branch, not the center of revenue.

An Expansion Checklist for Handmade Creators, and the Real-World Constraints

Sanago's path offers a concrete checklist for creators in the making and crafts field. You can work through, in order, whether you have your own products to catch the demand your videos create, whether you have an offline touchpoint where people can see the works in person, and whether you have an agency or partner to run the expansion as a business.

That said, copying this path as-is is hard. Sanago's starting line of 4.12 million subscribers and already-proven IP is not handed to most handmade creators. Own products and offline spaces also mean newly shouldering fixed costs like inventory, rent, and operations. Above all, exhibiting and selling works featuring characters that evoke famous IP carries copyright risk. This is an issue repeatedly raised on Naver Knowledge-iN as well.

Even so, the direction is clear. With management added through the CAM signing, there is a strong chance that goods, licensing, and brand collaborations will become more institutionalized next quarter, thickening Sanago's revenue branches further outside the videos.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What kind of products are the 3D pens and pattern books sold at Sanago Shop?

According to Naver blog write-ups, Sanago opened Sanago Shop in November 2018 and sells the 3D pens he uses in his videos. Beyond the pen, the shop also carries related products like pattern books and filament, and many reviews recommend buying a pattern book that beginners can follow along with.

Q. What can you see at Cafe Sanago in Daejeon, and can you buy goods there?

Cafe Sanago, located in Daeheung-dong, Daejeon (near Jungangno Station), is a space exhibiting Sanago's 3D-pen works. According to visit reviews, you can appreciate signature works like the moss Snorlax, buy menu items such as Nago macarons and filament ice cream and goods like grip-toks, badges, and T-shirts, and book a workshop in the workroom.

Q. What are the ways to earn revenue from handmade and crafts content?

Based on the Sanago case, the branches divide into selling your own products (Sanago Shop), offline exhibition and workshop spaces (Cafe Sanago), collaborative exhibitions like department-store pop-ups, and goods and licensing through management. The defining feature is not relying solely on sponsored ads but recovering the demand your own IP creates directly.

Q. When a making YouTuber exhibits or sells works modeled on famous IP, are there copyright issues?

This is an issue repeatedly raised on Naver Knowledge-iN. When figures that evoke famous characters are combined with revenue and exhibited or sold, copyright issues can arise, so it is safer to confirm in advance whether you have the rights holder's permission and what the scope of sale is. This answer is not legal advice, so specific cases require consultation with an expert.

Q. To pursue a path in crafts or dioramas like Sanago, where should you start?

Career questions on Naver Knowledge-iN often advise starting by steadily recording and publishing your making process. Sanago, too, is a useful reference in that he built reach by accumulating his production process on video, then broadened that reach into products, spaces, and an agency.

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Methodology: Based on Dhesy platform data of 5,904 brands and 359,998 collaborations. The analysis covers 9 videos from the last 90 days on the Sanago channel and cumulative sponsorship data. Distribution statistics are limited to Dhesy's collected range, and videos where Vision was not run or labeling was missing may be excluded from the tally.

Data source: Dhesy External sources: Sanago and Cheonjae Lee Seung-guk join CAM, Hyundai Department Store Sinchon Sanago 3D Pen Pop-Up Store, 3D-pen exhibition with 50 million YouTube views Last updated: 2026-06-18