Badabun is a Spanish-language media company from Tijuana, Mexico, with about 169 million followers across its networks. If you've heard the name but don't know the story, these are the 10 things that explain it.
1. IT STARTED IN A 4-BY-4-METER ROOM IN TIJUANA
Badabun was born in 2014, in a small room in Tijuana, with five friends from the same university. The first money came from ads on web pages and a Facebook page that shared the most viral videos of the day. Twelve years later, the company still runs from Tijuana, 20 minutes from the San Diego border, with around 100 people, 2 buildings and 6 studios.
2. WE WERE PART OF THE WORST OF THE INTERNET. WE SAY SO.
In its early years, Badabun grew on clickbait, shock and low-value viral content, and became one of the most-watched and most-criticized media brands in Spanish. We don't hide that. We're telling that story ourselves, in our own words, including what we got wrong and what we changed.
3. TODAY, WHAT GETS SHARED IS USEFUL
In October 2026, 73% of everything shared from the group came from Primeros Auxilios, our health and emergencies brand: what to do if someone chokes, how to recognize a stroke, what a scorpion sting needs. The most-shared piece of the month was a video on how to save yourself if you choke while alone. Our seven years of data say the same thing every year: shock gets views; useful information gets shared.
4. OUR CONTENT TRAVELS ON WHATSAPP
Badabun content was shared more than 13 million times in October 2026. On YouTube, the only platform that reports where shares go, 8 out of 10 shares of Primeros Auxilios went to WhatsApp. People don't repost us on their feed; they send us to their mother, their husband, their kids.
5. REAL EXPERTS, NOT ACTORS
Primeros Auxilios is fronted by a working paramedic and doctors; FEPA, our animal brand, by veterinarian Karla Gastélum. They read every script, correct it and approve it before anything is published. Nobody gives doses or diagnoses; everything is verified against sources before it's recorded.
6. OUR AUDIENCE IS OLDER THAN YOU'D THINK
On YouTube, half of Badabun's views come from people 45 and older. On Primeros Auxilios, two out of three viewers are women. We write for the mother who worked a long shift and will watch for 15 seconds before deciding to stay.
7. MEXICO FIRST, BUT ALL OF LATIN AMERICA, AND THE U.S.
About 38% of our Facebook followers are in Mexico; Colombia, the United States, Peru and Argentina follow. On YouTube, 12% of views come from the United States. We write in Mexican Spanish that works in every Spanish-speaking country, and we cover what matters on both sides of the border: health, work, family, rights.
8. WE WENT INSIDE EL SALVADOR'S PRISONS
Our reporter spent 24 hours inside the prison system built under President Bukele, and the series became some of the most-watched content on Badabun's YouTube channel in 2026. Our position is public: we're on the side of the people of El Salvador and their safety, we give credit to what works, and we also report what critics say.
9. WE BUILD OUR OWN TOOLS
In 2026, teams from Badabun entered Meta's global AI developer hackathon with two tools of their own: one that rewrites the first 15 seconds of a video before it's published, and one that checks whether a message is a scam before you answer it. Both were built on the principle that rules decide and AI explains.
10. WE PUBLISH OUR NUMBERS, GOOD AND BAD
Since September 2026, Badabun publishes a monthly report of how many people watch it, how many follow it and what went down, with the method behind each figure. Follower counts are public; views and unique users live only in each platform's dashboards and have not been audited by anyone outside the company. Journalists are welcome to come to Tijuana and check. Write to prensa@badabun.com.