The Busan Content Market Organizing Committee (Chairman: Park Hyung-jun, Mayor of Busan) and the Good Influencer Awards Organizing Committee announced that the 3rd Good Influencer Awards and the international conference “INFLUENCE 2025” were held with great success at the Signiel Busan Grand Ballroom on November 28. As the world’s first global awards ceremony to select honorees based on “positive influence” as its core criterion, this year’s event celebrated 19 channels across 16 categories.

The awards recognized domestic and international influencers practicing positive influence in a broad range of fields including society, culture, arts, health, and environment. Notable winners include “Your Face, Grace” (Companionship) who showcased artistic expansion through collaboration with artists with developmental disabilities; “Drawandrew” (Consolation) for comforting loneliness and emotional isolation felt among crowds; and “Self-Living Man” (Society) for providing practical housing information to single-person households. Additional awardees include “Knowledge Inside” (Culture and Arts), which made specialized knowledge accessible to the public; “Jang Dong-sun’s Curious Brain” (Healthcare) for sharing social insights based on brain science; “Tyler’s Global Culture” (Global Culture) for promoting multicultural understanding; and “Janna Korea” (Hallyu) which contributed to the spread of Korean culture with Arabic-language content.

In the overseas creator divisions, honorees included Fan Deng (International Knowledge), who expanded the influence of global knowledge content by delivering easy and practical book summaries, and Mr. Mai (International Inspiration), who delivered healing and immersive content through bike travel. The ceremony demonstrated its global reach by honoring creators beyond Korea.

The Good Influencer Awards define “good influencers” as creators leading social change and delivering positive messages through their content. Winners are chosen not for popularity or subscriber counts, but for social value, public interest, creativity, and positive impact. The organizing committee stated, “The Good Influencer Awards are the only global awards recognizing citizenship and positive influence,” and pledged to strengthen Busan’s role as a global content creator hub. Marking the 30th anniversary of the Busan International Film Festival and the 20th anniversary of the Busan Content Market, the city is striving to expand its content industry ecosystem as a leading center in Asia, supporting policies that spread a culture of positive influence from Busan to the world.

The international conference “INFLUENCE 2025” was also held in conjunction with the awards. Experts from the United States, India, China, Vietnam, Thailand, and Korea discussed their national influencer ecosystems, current issues, and future outlooks. The organizing committee noted the influence of creators is growing beyond YouTubers to include celebrities, politicians, athletes, businesspeople, and activists, with both positive impact and increased risks such as slander, fake news, and social conflicts. They plan to foster a healthy and sustainable influencer culture through ongoing international journal publications and conferences.