2020 JB LIFE! Magazine Spring Edition

COMMUNITY
DOCUMENTING LIFE IN KOREA
Jeonbuk Life Magazine is speaking to Jeonju
University Professor Nimrod Carpio about his
YouTube video-logs - also called vlogs. Professor
Nimrod who hails from the Philippines has been
living and working in South Korea for one year and
he originally uploaded his videos to show his Filipino
countrymen what his life in Korea is like. We interviewed
him to discuss how his video-making hobby has recently
started to become financially profitable.
How did you start vlogging?
My YouTube channel is called Tong TV, and it has been
running since March 2019. Well, I started by editing
videos for my parents, because they live in Saudi Arabia,
which is far away from me. My father is an FMW (Filipino
Migrant Worker), otherwise called an OFW (Overseas
Filipino Worker). He works for a petrol-chemical
company in Saudi. My mother is a housewife there. I had
been editing videos to show them how my life is going
here in Korea and then I posted the videos publicly on
YouTube so that Filipinos could watch them.
When did your YouTube channel start to
become successful?
It was this last December 2019. The Philippines was
hosting the 2019 Southeast Asian Games (called the
SEA Games) and I love volleyball so I was watching the
game and I vlogged my reactions about it. I recorded
myself for my brother, who also works in Saudi, to watch.
I had about 1,000 people who were already subscribed
to my videos—mainly Filipinos—and I remember that
in the evening I posted the volleyball video, I went to
sleep and when I woke up... I had 3,000 subscribers!
Wow! Were you surprised by the sudden increase?
Very surprised!
So what happened after that?
Well, I did a series of vlogs about the rest of the SEA
Games volleyball competition and they became very
popular! I often had 20,000 or 30,000 views per video.
And the number of subscribers to your YouTube
channel increased?
My subscriber total is currently around 7,000.
Words by JAMES AYLING
Screenshots from NIMROD CARPIO
30 Jeonbuk Life Magazine / Spring 2020 • Issue 18