Busan is good

Busan Metropolitan City's Official YouTube Channel ‘Busan Tube’ Wins Top Prize at the 2025 Social i-Awards

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Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Heong-joon) announced that its official YouTube channel ‘Busan Tube’ has received the top prize in the metropolitan government YouTube category at the 2025 Social i-Awards.

The Social i-Awards is the most prestigious domestic awards ceremony recognizing innovation in the use of social networking services (SNS). It evaluates exemplary cases that utilize SNS platforms, with a jury of 4,000 experts selecting the most outstanding services. The event is hosted by the Korea Internet Professionals Association (KIPFA) and organized by the i-Awards Committee.

‘Busan Tube’ achieved this honor by receiving high evaluations in various categories, including citizen participation-oriented operations, effective policy communication, and public value. This award serves as a clear testament to its growing reputation as a platform for civic engagement.

Going beyond simple policy announcements, ‘Busan Tube’ consistently introduces content that features and involves citizens, resonating strongly with viewers. In particular, the policy branding video series “Hello, Busan” and “Cherished Like You,” which feature actual beneficiaries of city policies, have received positive responses for sincerely conveying the impact of those policies.

Citizen-participatory content is another distinctive strength of ‘Busan Tube’. Highlights include the seasonal series “Busan Otaku-mentary,” which explores local fandom culture; channel art co-created with local artists (webtoon creators) based on citizen-submitted stories; and short-form content, all of which have reinforced its identity as an official YouTube channel built together with citizens.

Recently, its emotionally resonant content utilizing music has also drawn attention. Projects such as “Busan is Good” and “Let’s Go to Our Busan,” themed around citizen happiness and tourism culture, are city anthems that featured citizen-led lyrics, composition, and music video production. These projects have been praised as exemplary cases of naturally incorporating civic pride and urban identity.

The City is also actively leveraging generative artificial intelligence (AI) in content production. The “2025 Changes in Systems and Policies” series, which introduces key municipal initiatives through shorts, and the “More, Higher, Freer” series, which organizes the city’s main policy directions under the keywords “more,” “higher,” and “freer,” are fully AI-produced—from image generation to video creation and editing. These AI-powered efforts not only enhance informational delivery and entertainment value but also significantly reduce production time and cost, boosting overall efficiency.

Such diverse content strategies exemplify effective communication by simplifying complex policies to match citizen understanding—shifting the role of policy content from merely being seen to being truly understood. ‘Busan Tube’ earned high marks for its planning capabilities, communicative strength, and public appeal.

With this award as momentum, the City plans to further expand its citizen communication efforts through continued development of on-site vlog-style videos, policy experience-based interviews, and citizen participation projects.

Park Kwang-myeong, spokesperson for the City, remarked, “This award is a meaningful achievement made possible through the collective efforts of our citizens and the ‘Busan Tube’ team. Moving forward, we will continue to communicate policies in an accessible manner and establish ourselves as a trusted public media platform that connects the municipal administration and citizens.”