Even Yoo Jae-seok couldn't avoid it. The viewer ratings plummeted.

≪Tae Yuna's Oh Ye≫
‘The era of content overflow’. For readers who are wondering what to watch, reporters Tae Yu-na and Ten Asia will serve as an 'entertainment guide.' It adds fun to watching the program by delving into hot issues in the entertainment industry, as well as watching points, major characters, and behind-the-scenes stories.

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The aftermath of the Lunar New Year holiday had an effect on entertainment viewership ratings. In particular, as Lunar New Year overlapped with the weekend, all entertainment shows fell sharply, and programs hosted by Yoo Jae-seok and Jeon Hyun-moo also took a direct hit.

As the 2023 Lunar New Year is the first holiday celebrated after the COVID-19 social distancing measures were lifted, the number of people returning to their hometowns has also increased rapidly. Major tourist destinations were crowded with people looking to enjoy holiday outings, and there were also queues of travelers planning to go abroad for the holidays. An average of 123,000 people enter and leave the country through Incheong Airport every day, a more than 12-fold increase compared to last year.

Is that why? As more and more people spend their holidays being more active rather than spending time watching TV at home, viewership ratings for programs have naturally declined.

SBS' 'Running Man', which succeeded in increasing viewer ratings after moving from 5 PM to 6:20 PM for the first time in six years, recorded a viewer rating of 3.7% on the 22nd, Lunar New Year's Day, recording the lowest viewer rating in three months. KBS's '1 Night 2 Days', a competitor in the same time slot, also recorded 7.3%, breaking the 10% viewership rating. Above all, this is almost the first time that it has plummeted to the 7% level.

The situation is the same for KBS's 'The Boss's Ears Are Donkey Ears', which was firmly maintaining its first place in viewership ratings in the 5 pm It recorded 4.0%, down more than 2% from last week's 6.7%, achieving the same performance as the final episode of MBC's 'Around the World'.

SBS's 'All The Butlers', which has been experiencing sluggish viewer ratings entering Season 2, fell to 1.7% as soon as it rose to 2% last week, showing the lowest viewership rating of the season.

The one that managed to save face was SBS' 'My Little Old Boy' (hereinafter referred to as 'My Little Old Boy'). Although 'My Little Old Boy' also fell sharply by more than 3%, it still maintained the 10% range. Instead of KBS's 'Hong Kim Dong-jeon', KBS's 'Walking Into the Fantasies', which competed in the same time slot, had to be satisfied with 2.9%, and MBC's 'Fathers Who Crossed the Water' still failed to attract public attention at around 1%.

The situation is the same the day before Lunar New Year. MBC's 'Point of Omniscient Interfere' experienced the humiliation of recording a viewership rating of 2.9%, which was almost cut in half compared to last week, and 'What Do You Do When You Hang Out?' suffered a drop in viewership ratings, and netizens continued to argue over the glutinous rice donut and bean soup that appeared on the air. did.

Today's broadcast of 'What Do You Do When You Play?' The glutinous rice donut bean soup introduced as a Daegu snack in the 'National Snack Show' episode is a Chinese-style twist. Accordingly, there was a conflict of opinion that it was inappropriate to introduce Chinese food on the first day of the Lunar New Year holiday, a major national holiday, and that there was no problem as the purpose was to introduce a variety of snacks from all over the country.

Of course, this decline in viewer ratings is likely to be a 'sparkling' decline due to the holiday season. It is highly likely that most programs will recover their original viewership ratings. But you can't be at ease. Although the viewership rating pie has shrunk overall, it is also proof that there is no content strong enough to be unaffected by this. This is why entertainment shows that have taken a break are paying attention to what new content they will be able to captivate viewers with this year.

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