Delicious Interactive Live Streaming: Mukbang (Eating Show)

Dining has always been inherently social. We, as humans, have a natural desire to share a meal with good company. For people who are working and don’t have someone to sit down with for lunch or dinner, watching a mukbang is something that can fill that void. At these eating shows, you’re basically watching others eat either in real time or pre-recorded sessions. Others watch those “eatcasts” just for fun. And some view them as they turn viral. But the fact is the stars of these mukbanging shows can earn thousands of dollars per session in advertising revenue, viewer donations and sponsorships.

It’s become a true pop-culture in some areas of the world, starting at the origin, in Korea. The first mukbang show was done back in 2009 and it took only one year to become a popular trend. Many Americans saw their first mukbang show in 2015, when the Fine Brothers published a video titled YouTubers React to Mukbang (Eating Shows).

In this article you will find some interesting facts and takes on this Internet streaming sensation called mukbang. Also, you will learn how to run a successful eating show on your own without any Internet connection related hiccups.

Watch the Speedify Mukbang show - July 6th, 2021, 2 PM EST!

First off, why are millions of people watching mukbangs? What is so appealing about watching complete strangers eat in the first place? All experts agree on one thing: it is closely related to human nature. But why?

• • You can satisfy your desire for any type of food through what others eat. Seeing others stuff themselves with what you can’t or won’t eat (because you’re a health junkie or have certain dietary restrictions) brings satisfaction. Also, during the live streamed mukbangs, the hosts interact with the viewers through chatting and will sometimes follow what people ask them to do / eat. (Kim-Hae Jin, A Study on Food Porn as a Sub-Culture - Centering on Internet "Meokbang" (eating scene) in Afreeca TV, 2015). 
  • You don’t feel lonely while eating. According to a study conducted in Korea in 2017-2019, mukbang can alleviate the feelings of loneliness associated with eating alone and also satisfy fetishes involving food.
  • You like ASMR. The autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) is a sensation that usually goes from the scalp through the back of the neck and upper spine. Many mukbang show hosts eat using equipment that can capture all the sounds involved, thus feeding the ASMR aficionados.

• You just watch it for fun, as entertainment. One doesn’t need a serious reason to watch mukbangs. According to this study - The Psychology of Mukbang Watching: A Scoping Review of the Academic and Non-aademic Literature - for some, it provides a way to escape the real world and alleviate stress.

Whatever the reason you may have (it can be just curiosity, by the way), you can find all sorts of mukbangs available on YouTube, Twitch and other streaming platforms. You can also choose whether you want to watch a live streaming mukbang, where you can interact with the host in real time - typical in Korea - or you can watch a prerecorded video, which is more common for mukbangers in the USA.

The monetization sources for mukbanging are primarily ads and then also endorsements, e-books and product reviews. According to Today, professional mukbangers can make up to $10,000 a month in Korea, not including sponsorships from food and drink brands. In the US, a popular mukbanger with over 2.6 million subscribers made over $1 million from advertising on her videos in one year. 

If we go past ads, the other sources (endorsements, reviews, etc.) can bring up to $100,000 a year in the US for a mukbanger with around 500,000 subscribers.

But there’s a price to pay when you make this kind of money by eating. Most mukbang feasts are incredibly high-calorie — sometimes mukbang video creators consume more than 10,000 calories in a single video. That’s something that can impact the health of the hosts in the long-term.

Interested in joining the mukbanging community? Aware of the potential long-term effects of eating large amounts of food on a regular basis? In it for the ASMR part?

Whatever the reason, you can easily start hosting your own mukbang shows on the streaming platform of your choice. But as you probably guessed - making the mukbang interactive (real time streaming) should be a plus for you in terms of viewer engagement, the number of potential viewers, and the “viral” effect. 

To run a live streaming mukbang you’ll need the best Internet connection you can get - so your viewers can enjoy the show at full resolution with the best audio quality (for ASMR). And if one Internet connection is not good enough (slow, unreliable), you should definitely use 2 or more at the same time, with Speedify - here’s how to get uninterrupted live streaming at the best available quality.

And since you’re interested in this - check out our first mukbang show on Tuesday, July 6th, 2021, starting 2 PM EST. Join us on twitch.tv/SpeedifyOfficial!