Viewership ratings are ‘1st’, but topicality is ‘plummeting’ KBS drama dilemma

《Taeyuna’s Listening Bodbo》
Reporter Tae Yu-na and Ten Asia will properly cover all aspects of the drama based on what she heard and saw on the spot. We will be the eyes and ears of readers in an era where dramas are flooding in on numerous channels.

---

Among mini-series aired on weekdays, it has the highest viewer ratings, but its topicality is low. As the show nears its end, it cannot even be found in the rankings. The reality of KBS dramas is that they are faced with a dilemma: if viewership ratings are guaranteed, they will not become a hot topic, and if they target the younger generation, viewership ratings will not be achieved.

'Oasis', which is currently being broadcast as a KBS Monday-Tuesday drama, is set in Korea's turbulent times from the 1980s to the 1990s and follows three young people who fiercely sacrifice themselves to protect their dreams, friendships, and their first love, the only love in their lives. A period drama that tells a story.

Two men who love one woman. The fact that one of them is a prosecutor and the other is the boss of an organization reminds me of the drama 'Hourglass', which reached a peak viewership rating of 64% in 1995. The directing method and narrative structure are also so old that it is difficult to say that it is a work from 2023. This laxity may evoke nostalgia for middle-aged people who lived in those days, but the reality is that it is not attractive to young people who access videos through numerous platforms.

As a result, topicality is far from enough compared to viewership ratings. According to Good Data Corporation, a TV hotness analysis agency, 'Oasis' was not in the top 10 for both the work and the cast in the combined TV-OTT hotness in the second week of April. This is a significant drop compared to the first week of April, when the program ranked 8th in topicality and performer Jang Dong-yoon ranked 6th in topicality.

KBS's concerns must be deep. This is because the viewer base itself is higher than that of other terrestrial broadcasters, so in terms of viewership ratings, historical dramas and period dramas are bound to be better than youth dramas. Dramas targeting young people, such as 'Blue Spring from a Distance', 'School 2021', and '493km to You', had lower viewer ratings that exceeded the 1% range and fell to the 0% range, so the broadcaster probably wanted to take a safe route. .

However, it is questionable whether it is right for dramas with high numbers and no topicality to continue like this. Compared to other dramas, 'Oasis' has very low production quality. Now that viewers' expectations have increased, it is not possible to sustain success simply with a period drama narrative that middle-aged people would like.

KBS weekend dramas alone recorded over 30% ratings until just a few years ago, even with ridiculous storylines, but now they are only in the low 20% range. The viewers who used to tune in to KBS at 8 o'clock on weekends are now gone. This means that we must create works that viewers seek out, rather than works that viewers are looking for.

The follow-up to ‘Oasis’ is ‘I Met You by Chance’. Coincidentally, this is also a time slip period drama from the 1980s. It tells the story of a man and a woman living in the present who are trapped in 1987 and set out to find the truth about a past serial murder case.

Will KBS’s dilemma come to an end with the end of ‘Oasis’? This is why I hope that a work will be created that will be recognized for its viewer ratings, topicality, and artistic quality.

Taeyuna, Ten Asia Reporter youyou@tenasia.co.kr