The stage

This chapter gives an overview of social media sites and applications most used by mukbangers to create and/or distribute their content, namely AfreecaTV, YouTube, Twitch, TikTok, and Instagram. While mukbang exists on country-specific social media platforms (including in China until 2021), these are not easily accessible internationally without VPNs, and are not included here. Historical and functional aspects of theatrical staging is helpful in identifying different social media platforms used by mukbangers as either ‘main stage’ or ‘fringe stage’. As main stages for mukbang, AfreecaTV and YouTube are sites where mukbang production and consumption is supported through design, infrastructure, and regulation. In contrast, fringe stages for mukbang – Twitch, TikTok, and Instagram – are where content is predominantly (re)distributed or archived, and where viewer communities are smaller than main stages.