Workman Lost Its 6-Year Face Jang Sung-kyu, and the Channel Only Grew
Key Takeaways
- · 워크맨의 주인공은 MC가 아니라 직업 체험 포맷이라, 6년 간판 장성규가 떠나도 채널은 위축되지 않았습니다.
- · 새 MC 이준의 캐치캐치·노크 챌린지 쇼츠가 천만 뷰로 알고리즘을 장악하며 도달이 커졌습니다.
- · 천만 뷰 쇼츠는 본편 직업 체험 롱폼의 하이라이트 파생 클립으로, 롱폼이 엔진·쇼츠가 도달 확장 역할입니다.
- · 천만 뷰 도달과 본편 구독 유지는 다른 지표라, 화제가 곧 충성층 대체를 뜻하지는 않습니다.
- · 포맷 IP가 강하면 MC는 갱신 가능한 변수이며, 다음 시즌에서도 같은 변환이 반복될 가능성이 큽니다.
Job-experience web variety show Workman launched in 2019 as a first-generation web variety channel. For six years its face was former announcer Jang Sung-kyu. After he left, the channel did not shrink. Its reach and buzz actually grew.
The day Workman's 6-year face Jang Sung-kyu said he "got fired" — the October 2025 exit
It was October 2025 when Jang Sung-kyu, the six-year face of the 4.25-million-subscriber Workman, said outright that he "got fired." On October 16 he appeared on K.Will's YouTube channel "Hyungsu is K.Will" and spoke at length about leaving the show. His tone was not calm. "When I got the notice, I was depressed and sad," he said, and outlets including Sports Kyunghyang and Hankook Ilbo quoted the same remarks.
His own account went like this. He had always been willing to step aside for the program's growth, but the abrupt notice of departure left him feeling empty. A host of six years saying out loud that he "got fired" became a story in itself. Since its 2019 launch, Workman had been defined by Jang Sung-kyu's job experiences.
By common sense, a channel whose face leaves should wobble. The loyal audience follows the person, and a new host has to endure comparison for a while. But what came next at Workman was different.
Why Workman did not stall after swapping its lead host
The answer is the format. The protagonist of Workman, which has drawn a cumulative 1.8 billion views, was never the person but the job-experience structure. Each week one person is dropped into an unfamiliar workplace and survives a day as a part-timer, and that structure itself is the channel's asset.
This holds up outside the channel too. One outlet described Workman and its spin-off Workdol as having "settled in like the basic formula of job-experience web variety." By never losing its concept and identity, it became a reference point of its own in a YouTube environment where content is consumed and forgotten fast.
When the format is the protagonist, the host becomes a replaceable variable. The tone Jang Sung-kyu built was undeniably strong, but a structure that throws a person into a real workplace works no matter who hosts. The newcomer only has to show their own color on top of that structure. That is exactly what Workman proved in 2026.
New host Lee Jun joins in 2026, and one Catch Catch clip seizes the algorithm
After Jang Sung-kyu's departure, singer-actor Lee Jun joined as the new host of Workman Season 3. Lee Jun is at the same time a regular cast member on KBS's "2 Days & 1 Night Season 4." One person carries both a network variety show and a web variety show.
The turning point came at a baseball stadium. A clip of Lee Jun transforming into a muscular cheerleader at LG Twins' Jamsil ballpark and covering singer Choi Yena's "Catch Catch" choreography took over the algorithm. Related clips passed 10 million views, and original artist Choi Yena reacted on air that she "actually felt threatened." When Min Kyung-hoon added that "Lee Jun danced Catch Catch incredibly well," the buzz spread among the artists themselves.
The "Knock Challenge" short, riffing on Jang Won-young's choreography, became the most-watched video on the Workman channel.
The Catch Catch challenge short followed close behind.
Whether the viewers who followed Jang Sung-kyu stayed is a separate question. But the fact that a channel with a new host reached a wider algorithm shows up in the numbers.
Shorts cut from main episodes that become 10-million-view clips — long-form as engine, shorts as reach
One point needs underlining here. Workman's 10-million-view shorts are not separately produced short-form. Catch Catch and the Knock Challenge alike are derivative clips cut from highlights of the main job-experience episodes. So this channel is not a place to line shorts and long-form side by side for comparison. Long-form is the engine, and shorts are closer to a loudspeaker that widens reach.
Looking at the last 90 days of data Dhesy captured, the division of roles is clear. The 25 long-form videos averaged about 1.46 million views, while the 118 shorts averaged about 390,000.
워크맨 최근 90일 평균 조회수 — 본편(롱폼)이 엔진, 쇼츠가 도달 확장
* Source: Dhesy
A single short averaging less than a main episode does not mean shorts matter less. When a main episode builds one deep narrative, the dozens of shorts cut from it spread across the algorithm and multiply reach. Catch Catch could hit 10 million views precisely because the main cheerleader episode that created that scene came first. The starting point of the conversion is always the main episode.
From Workdol to Todalbokk, how Studio Lululala replicates a format
Workman was made by Studio Lululala, known as a web-variety powerhouse. The company has repeatedly transplanted the same job-experience formula onto different performers, and a single Workdol episode with Cortis working a part-time shift at Olive Young passed 3 million views.
Lululala's lineage of transplanting the job-experience formula runs like this:
- Wassup Man: a first-generation web variety led by Park Jun-hyung
- Workman: the job-experience flagship that ran from 2019, passing from Jang Sung-kyu to Lee Jun
- Workdol: a spin-off since 2023 where idols such as fromis_9 and Cortis enter part-time worksites
- Todalbokk: a talk show newly launched in 2026 with chef Kang Leo
The leading case, Workdol, is regarded as having settled in as a fourth-generation idol variety show. A format that survives a change of person, gets copied onto another figure, and creates yet another channel — that is the flow. That is why Lululala does not experience a host change as a crisis.
Sponsorship was a side note — what really drives Workman's buzz
Workman's buzz does not come from advertising. By Dhesy data, over the last 90 days only 5 videos were classified as sponsored. Among the hundreds of main episodes and shorts posted in the same period, that is a tiny fraction. As with Torriden appearing in the Workdol Olive Young shift, sponsorship worked only when it folded naturally into the job-experience format. The engine of the buzz was not the ads but the scenes the format created.
What lets a channel survive a change of face, and the outlook for the next season
Of course, it is too early to overrate the Lee Jun effect. The reach of a 10-million-view short and the retention of the main-episode subscriber base are different metrics. There is not yet a basis to conclude that Jang Sung-kyu's loyal audience moved entirely to the new host. Buzz is not the same as loyalty.
Even so, the structure Workman showed is clear. When the format IP is strong enough, the host becomes a renewable variable. Even when the face changes, the job-experience engine keeps running, a new figure films the main episodes on top of it, and the main episodes turn into shorts that widen reach. The next season and future spin-offs are likely to repeat the same conversion: the format absorbing a host change and the main episodes spreading as shorts. The idea that what keeps a channel alive is the format more than the person — Workman is proving it as it sends off its six-year face.
Frequently asked questions
Q. Why did Jang Sung-kyu leave Workman
Jang Sung-kyu said he received an abrupt notice of departure from Workman, which he had hosted for six years. On K.Will's YouTube channel in October 2025 he shared that he "got fired" and "was depressed and sad when notified," adding that he understands it as a choice for the production's growth.
Q. Who is Workman's new host
It is singer-actor Lee Jun. After Jang Sung-kyu's departure he took over hosting Workman Season 3, and he is at the same time a regular cast member on KBS's "2 Days & 1 Night Season 4."
Q. Why did Lee Jun's Catch Catch video go viral
A clip of Lee Jun transforming into a muscular cheerleader at LG Twins' Jamsil ballpark and covering Choi Yena's "Catch Catch" choreography took over the algorithm, with related clips passing 10 million views. The buzz was big enough that original artist Choi Yena reacted on air that she "felt threatened."
Q. How do Workman's shorts and main episodes differ
Workman's 10-million-view shorts are not separately produced short-form but derivative clips cut from highlights of the main job-experience episodes. By Dhesy data, over the last 90 days long-form averaged about 1.46 million views and shorts about 390,000, with main episodes as the engine and shorts widening reach.
Analysis method: Based on Dhesy's data of 5,361 brands and 8,711 channels. Channel statistics are a 90-day aggregate (143 videos) for the Workman channel; sponsorship classification and shorts distinction are limited to Dhesy's collected range. The cumulative 1.8 billion views and 4.25 million subscribers combine Dhesy data (4.25M subscribers) and external reporting (420만+ / 1.8B cumulative views). Data source: Dhesy Last updated: 2026-06-02