Viewers watch mukbang videos for three main reasons: 1) a sense of connectedness to the mukbanger, 2) vicarious pleasure from the multisensory food experience, and 3) enjoyment of the spectacle of exaggerated eating. A study surveyed 104 viewers and interviewed 15, finding most watch alone for companionship during meals or as a leisure activity. Viewers feel intimacy with mukbangers and are motivated by both the virtual food experience and satisfying hunger vicariously through viewing exotic or forbidden foods being eaten.

1. Why do people watch others eat?
An Empirical Study on Motivations and Practices of
Mukbang Viewers
Laurensia Anjani, Terrance Mok, Anthony Tang, Lora Oehlberg, Wooi Boon Goh
CHI 2020
Feb. 26th, 2021
Presenter: Seunghyeong Choe

2. Contents
• Overview of the paper
• Introduction
• Study of Viewer Practices and Motivations
• Findings
• Motivations of Mukbang Viewers
• Discussion

3. 2
Overview of the paper
A mixed-methods study of Mukbang viewers
Propose design implications for remote commensality
Surveyed 104 viewers and interviewed 15 of them
Attitudes, viewing habits, and perceived social relationship

4. 3
Introduction
• 2 billion users watch videos 1 billion hours a day
• Live streaming and recorded video streaming

5. 4
Introduction
• V-log, game, cooking, eating (mukbang)
• Mainstream is changing from game to mukbang
• Social engagement & sharing common experience
• Multisensorial experience of the foods

6. 5
Introduction
• To understand the practices and motivations of mukbang viewers,
 Surveyed 104 people
 Interviewed 15 of them
 Most of viewers watch mukbang alone during mealtime
 Reason why they watch mukbang
• Connectedness with others
• Vicarious pleasure of the multisensory experience
• Purely for the performative spectacle
• Contributions
 Contrast the practices and motivations of mukbang viewers with prior research
 Offer several design implications for video streaming experiences

7. 6
Mukbang: Eating Broadcast
• Meokneun (eating) + bangsong (broadcast)
• South Korean culture
• Popularity of mukbang is increasing in single-person households [43]
 27.1% of all household (most common type) and expected to reach 34.3% by 2035
• Many Korean mukbangers are making videos in English.

8. 7
Related Work
• Live Streamed Video Games
 Viewers feel a strong sense of perceived intimacy [45]
 Shared emotional connection [15]
• Multisensory Aspects of Eating
 Virtual Lemonade [39]: the system captures the acidity of drink, and stimulates the drinker’s tongue
• Designs for Remote Commensality
 Social integration [10]
 Digital remote commensality [55]
 Virtual co-eating system [51]
 EATProbe [12]: an ambient display that promoted social awareness around mealtimes

9. 8
Study of Viewer Practices and Motivations
Survey
Preliminary
Analysis
Interview
• 20 mukbang video streams
• The nature of mukbang
• Qualities of the conversation
• 104 mukbang viewers
• 70% females, and 30% males
• Aged 18 to 44
• 66% are 18-24 age group
• Mostly students
• 15 participants
• 5 males, 10 females
• Age 17 to 41 (average 25)
• 6 from United States (largest)
• 10 students

10. 9
Study of Viewer Practices and Motivations
• Survey
 20 questions
 5-point Likert and short answer questions
 Mukbang watching practices
• What platforms they used
• When they watched
• Who they watched the video with
 What factors influenced their choice of mukbang video to watch
 Motivations for watching mukbang
• Entertainment, socialization, interaction, information, and hunger
• Interview
 Asking in-depth questions about participants’ experiences

11. 10
Findings:
Mukbang Viewing Practices
• During mealtime, before bedtime, or during free time
• Solitary activity
• Select videos based on preferences for the food being eaten
• Mukbangers’ personality plays an important role in content choice.
• Three major themes
 Private activity
 Mealtime companion
 Leisure activity

12.  “… have recommended a YouTuber once to a friend but keep private.” -P2
 “I feel like one of those secret hobbies that nobody really wants to talk about…” -P10
11
Findings:
Mukbang Video Streams as a Private Activity
70% watched mukbang alone
Feeling embarrassed to answer why they chose to watch alone
 “[I watch] pretty much alone every time. I watch alone, but sometimes I send it to my friends, … but t
hey’re not as crazy as I am. … So, I watch it alone because nobody understands.” -P13
 “I watch alone because my family usually laughs at me when I watch it when they are there. They sa
y I am wasting my time with this nonsense.” -P15
 “Yes, I do [watch alone in private]! It’s almost like porn. I cannot watch it with somebody else.” -P4
Discuss their watching habit comfortably, but not actual viewing

13. 12
Findings:
Mukbang Video Streams as a Mealtime Companion
More people living alone
Watching mukbang video during mealtime
 66% of survey respondents live in single households
 12 out of 15 interviewees eat alone
 5 interviewees watch TV or use social media platform when eating alone
• “Usually if I’m eating alone, and I’m all by myself, usually I’ll watch TV.” –P3
• “… read the news on my phone, or sometimes do a quick surf on Instagram, sometimes YouTube.” –P12
 “I have the habit of watching videos (online / on TV) while eating”
• 65% of respondents indicated Agree (21.3%) or Strongly Agree (42.7%)
 6 of them watched mukbang video during mealtime

14. 13
Findings:
Mukbang Video Streams as a Mealtime Companion
Conversation
 “If I eat alone, I tend to watch mukbang, because it feels like I’m eating with someone else. It feels
like I’m actually interacting with them even though they can’t really see me in a way,
especially when they talk about something and ask for a response.” –P8
 “I found this one person, which her name is Stephanie Soo. She’s my favourite because she talks
mostly about conspiracy theory and unsolved mystery, that’s fun to have a story time when you’re
eating, like virtual conversation I’d say.” –P9

15. 14
 “Usually [I watch mukbang video streams] after I’m done with work. … whenever I’m bored. ...” -P9
Findings:
Mukbang Video Streams as a Leisure Activity
Relaxing and feeling happy
 “…sometimes when I’m going to bed I’m actually just watching mukbang videos.” –P4
 “At night, [I watch mukbang video streams] when I’m supposed to be sleeping and I’m hungry.” –P7
 “Sometimes I feel very happy watching [mukbangers], because they have such a good life, they can
eat this much, and they can be this happy, why can’t I. Watching mukbang is also relaxing for some
people, it’s actually a mental treatment for some people. But for myself, it’s a good experience. …
watching them eat is very relaxing. ...” –P8
Addressing boredom

16. 15
Motivations of Mukbang Viewers
• Three major themes
 Sense of Connectedness
 Vicarious Pleasure
• Multisensory Experiences
• Virtual Satiation
• Physiological Experiences
 Spectacle of Eating and the Mukbanger’s Performance

17. 16
Motivation Theme 1: Sense of Connectedness
• Perceived intimacy with specific mukbangers
 “I feel that [Stephanie] knows I’m here supporting [her] … [she’s] a celebrity and I act as a fan.” –P8
• Admire mukbangers’ personality, their stories, and physical appearance
 “Stephanie Soo is very funny and sassy at the same time. … Her life experiences are also very nice,
very dramatic.” –P8

18. 17
Motivation Theme 1: Sense of Connectedness
• Interacting with mukbangers
 “She’s very active with the people. If you comment, she will probably like it or will respond.” –P9
 Only a very small percentage of participants indicated any desire to interact with other viewers
• Contrasts with findings from studies of video game streaming [15]

19. 18
Motivation Theme 2: Vicarious Pleasure
• Multisensory Experience
 ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response)
• Critical part of how foods are experienced
• Spend significant time describing the taste or smells of the food,
particularly when trying new foods
• “The ASMR is the most important thing. You can hear every single of
chewing, … feel like you’re doing it.” –P13
• “I need them to tell me what it tastes like, especially something that
I’ve never had before, like octopus.” –P4
 Extra actions to highlight aspects of the food
• Support for additional senses

20. 19
Motivation Theme 2: Vicarious Pleasure
• Multisensory Experience
 Short video duration and less talking
• “I think the ASMR is the most important thing… I prefer them not to talk that much.” –P13
• “It’s weird but I do like hearing the sounds, like the crunching but I don’t like to hear a lot of it.
That’s why the one-minute videos are enough because after that, it’s on my nerve.” –P3
 Conversation
• Desire to listen to chewing sounds was not universal
• “I don’t really care for the ASMR, I think it’s kinda gross to hear people chew.
I think I’d like it better if the streamers talk about anything besides eating and food,
like having a normal conversation with their viewers.” –P2

21. 20
Motivation Theme 2: Vicarious Pleasure
• Virtual Satiation
 Mukbang helped satisfy food cravings or hunger
• 5 interviewees reported
• “It’s just like if there’s something I’m craving, I’ll watch a mukbang video.” –P11
• “Sometimes when I don’t have access to food, I was like ohmagad I’m so hungry and I watch it
and I feel a little better." –P4

22. 21
Motivation Theme 2: Vicarious Pleasure
• Virtual Satiation
 Exotic or forbidden food
• “It depends on what they’re eating, whether it’s something I don’t have in a regular basis.” –P3
• “I’m a Muslim, so during Ramadhan I watch a lot of mukbangs because I can’t really eat during the day,
so I like to see like maybe I can eat this later in the day”. –P10
• “I’m also allergic to shellfish, and I love watching people eating shellfish. …” –P4

23. 22
Motivation Theme 2: Vicarious Pleasure
• Physiological Experiences
 Mukbang influenced viewers’ cravings for a particular type of food
• “I watch a lot of noodles for some reasons because it makes like delicious noises and I like that.
And I have noticed that I’m constantly craving noodles now because of the videos.
So, it has affected my cravings for sure.” –P4
• “When I watch these videos, it definitely makes me want to go eat. If it’s seafood, it makes me wanna go
eat seafood, but I tried not to give in into those. That’ll be bad.” –P3

24. 23
Motivation Theme 3: Spectacle of Eating and Performance
• Its performance much like video game streaming

25. 24
Motivation Theme 3: Spectacle of Eating and Performance
• Enormous food quantity and exotic food type
 “Eating Challenge”
 50% of survey respondents indicated that “Eating Ability” is important to them

26. 25
Motivation Theme 3: Spectacle of Eating and Performance
• Eating style
 Clean vs. sloppy
 “Creator’s eating style” is important in how they choose
mukbang streams to watch
• 66% of survey respondents indicated
• “I like it too when the [mukbangers] eat sloppily.
It’s real. I love it especially when they can’t control,
it’s like noodles everywhere and sauce all over the place,
and that’s hilarious and I love it.” –P4
• “The eating style, if you’ve ever seen the eating style of
Matt Stoney, you would just think, ‘Wow.’
Eating style, I find it very interesting,
especially when I watch him…” –P14

27. 26
Motivation Theme 3: Spectacle of Eating and Performance
• Reactions
 “I guess watching other people’s reactions is super interesting. And since I’m a streamer too,
I know how it is to perform and get reactions. To watch people doing these challenges,
like the spicy challenges, is fun to watch. And I feel like when you have a challenge like that,
it’s more interesting to watch because it has an end goal or a challenge that makes it harder.” –P11

28. 27
Discussion & Future Work
• Tailoring future video streams and streaming interfaces
 Real-time Audio Segmentation
• Viewers could select audio tracks
• Emphasizing ASMR
• Emphasizing conversation
 Multisensory Immersion
• Stimulating or transmitting taste, smell, and touch
• Bone-conduction headphones to hear the internal sounds
 Remote Commensality through Blended Reality
• Holoportation
• Holographic technology
• Depth-sensing camera (e.g., HoloLens)
 Information Overlay
• Image recognition to distinguish food items in the video
• Overlay food with relevant information (e.g., name, origin, price, ingredients)
 A Critical Perspective on Mukbang
• Streamer’s health
• Provide off-camera efforts to stay healthy

29. Thank you
Any questions?