How a viral Baby Shark video created a $400 million business

When Kim Min-seok was given the green light in June 2016 to post a 90-second clip of a children’s song, he had no idea what he was going to release.

It has become a global phenomenon, with over 16 billion views – the most viewed YouTube video of all time.

That song was the incredibly catchy Baby Shark song.

Not only did it captivate young children and terrify adults around the world, it laid the foundations for its creator, Pinkfong, to become a media company worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

“We didn’t expect this content to stand out from our other content,” Pinkfong CEO Kim told the BBC from the company’s headquarters in Seoul.

“But looking back, it became a major turning point that paved the way for our global journey.”

On Tuesday, that journey took Pinkfong to the South Korean stock market, where its shares rose more than 9% on its debut, giving it a valuation of more than $400m (£304m).

Founded in 2010 as SmartStudy, the company produces digital content for children up to 12 years old.

It had just three employees, including Mr. Kim and the company’s chief technology officer, Dongwoo Son.

“The office was small, even smaller,” Kim recalls, pointing to the conference room from which he was calling.

The amount was so small, he said through a translator: “We were not even expecting a salary at that time.”

Pinkfong has undergone several major reforms, including shifting its focus to young children.

The company grew to about 100 employees and prioritized games and simpler learning-based content. “And that’s when Baby Shark came out,” Kim said.

The company has been known as Pinkfong since 2022, a name inspired by a playful and inquisitive fox who appeared in one of its early cartoons.

It now employs about 340 employees, with offices in Tokyo, Shanghai and Los Angeles.

The Baby Shark song is believed to have originated in the United States in the 1970s and was often sung at children’s summer camps.

Media analyst Kevin Chiu of Nanyang Technological University said the song, which repeats the phrase “Baby Shark, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo,” is “appealing to children, though perhaps annoying to adults.”

Kim also realizes how attractive it is.

“It’s like a K-Pop song. It’s fast-paced, rhythmic and addictive,” he said, adding that the melody has a “chanting” effect, making it easy for children to remember.

But she was an instant hit and only gained traction when her dance routines were showcased at children’s events in Southeast Asia.

Video clips of children and adults dancing to the song began spreading online and the clip went viral.

Kim said there was a “festival-like feeling” in Pinkfong’s office, as the team watched viewership numbers soar.

In November 2020, Baby Shark’s clip was named the most viewed on YouTube.

He said it generated about half of the company’s revenue in the years immediately following the video’s release and became a launching pad for new content and merchandise.

But Pinkfong faced a legal challenge in 2019 when it was accused of plagiarizing the works of an American composer.

South Korea’s Supreme Court dismissed the case, after the company argued that its version was derived from a popular song in the public domain.

Kim said the win gave the company a boost as it went public.

Other Pinkfong franchises such as Bebefinn and Sealook are growing rapidly, but the company must prove that its success does not depend solely on Baby Shark, said Min Jong Kim, a business lecturer at Korea University.

She said the company’s target audience is a big advantage because young children tend to watch the same material repeatedly.

Kim Min-seok insists his business can grow beyond Baby Shark, which currently accounts for about a quarter of Pinkfong’s revenue. Meanwhile, Bebefinn jumped ahead, generating nearly 40% of the company’s profits.

One parent told the BBC that his family had mixed feelings about Pinkfong’s videos.

Saleem Nashif, a father of two, said he appreciates the educational qualities of the company’s content, but his wife thinks Baby Shark “overstimulates kids.”

However, the video that went viral seems inevitable, as his daughter, who is about to turn three, will be having a Baby Shark-themed birthday party.

Whether Pinkfong will be able to create other characters to match Baby Shark’s brand appeal remains unclear, Professor Kim said.

Kim said the company raised nearly $52 million in its stock market debut and plans to use the money to expand its lineup of films and characters.

The company also aims to become a “technology-driven” content creator, using viewing patterns and other data to shape its new projects.

Pinkfong has already achieved “what many creators have always dreamed of,” Kim said.

But now she must show investors that she is more than just a miracle.