I’m not sure what this means in the grander scheme of things in the world of K-dramas but I’ve lived through plenty of ups and mostly downs these days as ad revenue and viewers have fled. MBC was reportedly considering ending prime time K-dramas earlier this year which would have been earth shattering a decision. This week the network announced that it will start airing prime time K-dramas, the Mon-Tues and Wed-Thurs block, an hour earlier at 9 pm (21 hr) rather than the standard 10 pm (22 hr) time slot that all Big Three network prime time K-dramas have aired. Currently cable network tvN airs its Mon-Tues and Wed-Thurs K-dramas at 9:30 pm, as does jTBC with its Mon-Tues drama, so the MBC move will take it out of competition with KBS and SBS dramas but overlap with the first half airing of tvN dramas. The time slot move will start with the new dramas to premiere Partners for Justice 2 and Spring Night.
I hope it helps. The issue is not really the timeslot but the material itself. MBC really has been the weakest of the public channels. They need to improve their drama’s content to lure in the viewers again. I have high expectations for Spring Night. It hope it delivers.
I’m not sure moving their primetime dramas by one hour will help much. From what I know of MBC dramas, they had better spend their money hiring better writers. Their dramas usually have very fresh, original concepts but lousy executions and sloppy writing. A viewer will tune in to watch a drama if it is interesting and engaging enough regardless of the time slot. I hope the shift in timing helps, but I’m afraid that MBC will constantly be plagued with the same rating issues until they address the core problem.