Is the crisis of ‘2 Days & 1 Night’ due to ‘Running Man’? There is a different reason

≪Tae Yuna’s Oh Ye≫
‘The era of content overflow’. For readers who are wondering what to watch, reporter 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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A crisis has come to KBS' most popular entertainment show '2 Days & 1 Night'. While competing head-to-head with 'Running Man', which moved to a new time zone, from the new year, it lost the top spot in 2049 viewership ratings. National viewership ratings also showed a downward trend, and the viewership ratings in the 10% range were in danger of collapsing for the first time in four months. However, can we say that this is only due to the change in programming of ‘Running Man’? The answer is 'NO'.

'Running Man' attempted a new change by moving the programming from 5 PM to 6:20 PM, and the challenge was successful. It recorded a viewer rating of 5.9%, up 1.7 points from last week, and the highest viewer rating per minute rose to 8.3%. The broadcast on this day, which was decorated with 'Running Man Outing', which broke away from the rule of removing name tags and summoned the legendary entertainment show 'Family Outing', drew a lot of laughter by depicting the members' close race for 24 hours. From meal preparation that brought back memories of 'Magic Soup' to market visits and game competitions during break time, it was fun without a dull moment, and the members' long-standing tiki-taka chemistry also shone.

On the other hand, '2 Days & 1 Night', continuing from last week, depicts a travel story in which six men dressed as Santa and Rudolph hand out gifts to Santa Village residents. However, the viewer rating recorded 10.0%, a slight decrease from last week.

However, this was an expected result. '2 Days & 1 Night' recently set a new course by adding actor Yoo Seon-ho as the youngest member, 7 months after Ravi left the show due to military enlistment, but the results were below expectations. They aimed for a new atmosphere by introducing the youngest in the program's history, born in 2002, and a whopping 24-year age gap with Yeon Jeong-hoon, but Yoo Seon-ho's performance was minimal. Rather, the fact that he kept interfering with his brothers in the game and couldn't even show his proper abilities felt like 'dislike' rather than 'foolishness'.

By featuring actors with no entertainment experience, from Yeon Jeong-hoon to Na In-woo and Yoo Seon-ho, the responsibility for laughter fell to Moon Se-yoon and Kim Jong-min. You might have expected fresh laughter from entertainment newbies, but this was only temporary. In the end, it was long-time broadcasting veterans who led the program.

In addition, DinDin was recently criticized for his remarks criticizing Bentoho regarding the 2022 Qatar World Cup, and was branded as being unpopular with the public. Accordingly, in last week's broadcast, the members chose to fight head-on by publicly sniping at DinDin for his slip of the tongue, but the sight of DinDin looking down and looking at others was not pleasant.

DinDin, who became unlikable, Yoo Seon-ho, who failed to show impressive performances, Na In-woo, who was trapped in a consistent character of eccentricity, Moon Se-yoon, and Kim Jong-min, who struggled, the new version of '2 Days & 1 Night' became neither harmonious nor interesting. And this resulted in a decline in viewership ratings.

Although it is competing with 'Running Man' in the same time slot, this is actually a problem that '2 Days & 1 Night' must solve on its own. Until now, it had been settling for a 10% viewership rating without any significant rivals, but now it was time to find new numbers to beat 'Running Man', which was quickly following behind it. It only takes a moment for a viewership rating to break into double digits.

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