Big Three Networks SBS, MBC, and KBS to Cut Prime Time K-drama Production in Half in 2021 After Another Lackluster Ratings Year in 2020

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• This is not a big surprise. They should definitely look at why these dramas are failing and why they keep producing these boring, generic dramas that the audience has no interest in watching.

  The majority of these dramas aren't as appealing as what was produced a few years ago. They should work on fixing what's wrong in terms of these scripts and chemistry between their leads and cast.

  Stop throwing two popular people together in hopes of getting the views because it's just not working.

  At least if the main leads have strong chemistry, there's a high chance they could make a boring script work but these current dramas seriously lack everything that makes kdramas fun and exciting to watch now.

  • But now we have fewer dramas to look forward to which is so sad :(

• The industry knew this and released articles last month pretty much saying TV is over? It has nothing to do with dramas. People have just moved away from TV.

  Not many countries watch TV SK seems to be one of the last countries to move away from it. There is streaming people moved away and the channels, productions teams and the insider know this pretty much since they released couple of articles on it. TV is pretty much over and has been over since last year. There is wavve Tv'ing and other streaming platforms in SK and I am hearing Wavve has like 15mio+ stremers and this effectively ends the Tv-rating era

  • This pretty much. Everyone kinda knew this was inevitable and I mean who even watches TV in 2020 and especially for a high tech country like SK. All dramas should land on 1% from 2021 and onwards to 2030 which means the very old generation will still watch TVs making that 1% but other then that it's pretty much a bygone era for TV.

    Commericials will have to move into streaming platforms such as Wavve and Tv'ing etc etc

    • I'm sorry, some of these dramas should never have been funded. I felt the lull this year because I suddenly didn't have dramas to look forward to and even then they would be cable dramas. TV is dying thats definitely a contributing factor but quality is also another. So here's to fewer dramas but hopefully better content

• So sad, less production = less variety= they can' afford anymore to pay top actors as they are no longer a guarantee of high ratings and the ones who are going to lose much more than us , are the workers of the entertainment industry ! Sigh...

  • It has nothing to do with money or casts but it's due to the younger generations and even 30s and 40s moving away from TV.

    people just moved away from TV just like how it is in the USA, Europe, gulf countries, and in other developed countries. We are in the streaming age hence the top actors will even thrive more then previously. B-lister and C-listers will lose out on this since the drama production will be cut shorter and shorter which results less casting for them and job opportunity but the few in the top half of the industry will increase in payment due to the streaming platforms they will bring them out for these. The top half of the industry thrive even better then before

  • Interest in kdramas seem to be getting revived with its greater availability through Netflix, and less variety is just going to nip it in the bud. I guess this does prove that international ratings/views doesn't mean anything for these domestic broadcasting stations. They want the domestic ratings and trend.

    • Example if you go back to the 90s you would say dramas hitting 60% and it has been decreasing from year to year all the way upto now where example 20% was the norm just 10 years ago it's due to the boom of technology and people having so much alternative which means the viewers haven't left they are still there just not on TV and still watching dramas but just not on TV while minority watching we are starting to see the 1%'s occur frequently lately and this has already happened in other countries way before the SK and this will be the norm going forward.

      It's due to the technology boom and people moving into streaming platforms within SK meaning the TV era is coming to an end

    • @HD

      It all makes sense now because I use to wonder what happened to these 60% viewership from the 90s and it all makes sense due to the technology increase and alternative options

• Who watches regular TV anymore? There's Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Disney Plus, Youtube TV, iQiyi, Viki. Even the cable networks are going toward the subscription streaming on demand route. tVN and JTBC has TVing. HBO has HBO Max. Kakao M is going to produce original content like dramas and films for mobile devices. There was a Korean article recently which talked about advertisers needing to think differently. Focus shouldn't be on the antiquated tv ratings system that rely on numbers from regular TV, but advertisers have to look at other big-data analytics from companies like Good Data.

  • Good data needs to expand its metrics and make clearer data sets on popularity and buzz. This will be the next big thing 'Online Popularity Data' mark my words

• 10 Reasons Why..and so on
  1. Every drama has romance element.
  2. Always Cinderella's story with cringey lines.
  3. Big budget on the production and actors but the direction and script is meh.
  4. Using idols(with 0 experience) as main leads.
  5. Excessive use of PPL's.
  6. Netflix, Cable Channels.
  7. Age Gap of the leads.(Pairing Uncles to Babies/ Aunt to Babies).
  8. Good dramas are scheduled at late night.
  9. No moral lesson. It's always bed scenes.
  10. Recycled plots.

• Netflix was saved by the pandemic. Nothing ever stays the same in the tech/streaming world of today. Netflix has had competition but they have more now especially with Disney pulling all their content which includes ABC content. They lost their Brit content to Acorn & Brit Box. It is all supply and demand just like Dramafever ended when Kocowa started and Netflix started increasing its international content.

  What the big 3 in Korea are doing seems like what daytime television did in the U.S. which is they dumped all but a few of the daytime soaps. They found with women not in the home and talk shows cheaper to produce, it made sense to move in that direction. Korea does variety very well so I wish them well in that.

  The stations should of course work on the quality of writing but I think lowering production costs is probably key. Big A list actors don't equal a sure-fire ratings win anymore. Anyway, I'm rooting for the entertainment industry as some of the dramas on streaming and cable are as godawful as the ones on the big three stations. Maybe without the crunch of putting out drama after drama, they will be able to watch their production costs more and get better scripts. I'm rooting for them.

• China has huge streaming platforms like iQiyi, Tencent, Youku competing and airing web dramas that don't make it onto satellite tv, and its very different from the short k-web dramas. China shell out big bucks for these and churn out multiple lengthy series a year for online streaming only. Has Korea not yet jumped on that train?

  • China has HUGE market though. Even just moderately doing okay dramas can get a billion views or more online.

  • There are tonnes of choices but does it mean quality dramas though? The streaming sites are charging viewers for extras and there are battles between streaming platforms and TV platforms.

  • Those platforms lose billions of dollars each year too.

• i wonder how would they conduct the drama awards? and I'm actually looking into the sbs drama awards this year, because the rating competition was fierce, especially for the miniseries one. i wonder what drama would dominate the award? dr. romantic kim? hyena? ir hot stove league? i think the upcoming drama alice also would have high rating

  • Can you believe Flower of evil is at 3% and have even been as low as 2% that is depressing

    • I think this next week's ratings are key because they did pop up last week. I am of the opinion that Korean viewers weren't too keen on LJG playing a serial killer and now know the drama is going a different direction.

    • I'm thinking that the flower of evil ratings is decent. remember that the drama is airing almost at midnight. many ppl already gone to bed during this time. so with this rating, i think it's doing well for this time slot. and i believe the rating would increase, iff the watchers willing to sacrifice their sleep

• TV died while the audience have moved into streaming. The endorsements will follow as they depend on the audience leaving TV channels with nothing because there time is up

• The way those star writers, directors, actors charge, its no wonder dramas can't survive the chop. OTT platforms are expanding so I guess the future business model will be them financing the production of dramas and the big 3 can just buy the content as a local country distributor instead. That will keep dramas on air for terrestrial while shifting the big monies to those who can afford it. Big name casting these days don't guarantee a hit and kudos to stations like JTBC who still give chances to up and coming writers and production who know how to tell a good story instead of relying on hype to boost ratings. Korean dramas literally fall into 2 categories these days. The ultra expensive big name cast, big name writer, big name director dramas that are all eager to outdo one another in the expenses department and regular run of mill cheap to produce B list type of romcom or office dramas with some familiar faces that screams filler programming cos that's all we can afford. Thats why dramas like JTBC's Sky Castle, World of Married, OCN's Good Detective can break out. They broke the mould offering instead insightful and powerful story telling that neither rely on hype casting or brand name writer/director. Truth is viewers are still there (going by the crazy ratings of the above 2 dramas by JTBC) but they need a good reason to tune in due to the jadedness set in by poor content over time.

  • I think you're right viewers are there but only once or twice a year when something HUGE comes out but nobody wants to make year long commitments to it.