'Crushology 101', 'Spring of Youth', and '24-Hour Gym' from the three terrestrial broadcasters are struggling with ratings of 0% and 1%.
Recently, the drama ratings of the three terrestrial broadcasters look unusual in a negative sense. The MBC Friday-Saturday drama 'Crushology 101' and the SBS Wednesday-Thursday drama 'Spring of Youth' both recorded a fractional rating of 0.7%. The KBS 2TV Monday-Tuesday drama '24-Hour Gym' managed to avoid a fractional rating with 1.7%, but the gap is still minimal.
The phrase that TV dramas are in crisis has been heard for some time. Nevertheless, in the case of SBS, the main drama time slot, the Friday-Saturday drama 'Haunted Palace,' is maintaining a rating in the 8% range. However, it is indeed unusual for all three terrestrial broadcaster dramas airing at different times to exhibit ratings of 0% and 1%.
Ironically, 'Crushology 101', 'Spring of Youth', and '24-Hour Gym' are all youth romance works. 'Crushology 101' is based on a webtoon of the same name and depicts the romance of Bunny, who gets entangled with attractive men suddenly after her first love, which remains a dark history. 'Spring of Youth' is a youth musical romance about a star named Sae-gi from a top K-pop band who, after being kicked out of the team, meets 'Kim-bom' during a tumultuous university life and makes a successful comeback. '24-Hour Gym' portrays a comedic growth drama as the determined trainer Do Hyun-jung radically corrects the overly worried 'glam members' in their lives.
The weakness of dramas targeting youth romance in their 20s shows that the TV viewing audience has clearly shifted to predominantly middle-aged viewers. With viewers in their 10s and 20s establishing major viewing platforms as OTT and YouTube rather than TV, the main audience for live TV broadcasts is dominated by those in their middle ages and older. For viewers over 40, mostly married, even if there is a successful original work, the accessibility is low, making single narrative genres centered on youth romance or coming-of-age stories 'losing cards.'
In some circles, ratings are no longer regarded solely as the last traditional indicator. In fact, last year, despite the tvN drama 'Jumping with Positivity' boasting a syndrome-level popularity, the maximum rating was only 5.8%, and it gained immense attention among the female viewer demographic in their 20s. Currently airing dramas, such as the tvN Saturday-Sunday drama 'Resident Playbook', which has around a 6% rating, are seen in the same context as having dominance in terms of buzz.
However, there is a need to reflect on the situation where youth dramas airing on terrestrial channels around the same time are perceived as failures beyond just being underperforming. There have been works that became victims of scheduling misfortune, overshadowed by competing titles, but it has never happened that all were viewed with fractional ratings on terrestrial channels without any competing dramas at the same time.
As a genre dominated by relatively young actors, youth dramas are often seen as a gateway for newcomers among both actors and directors. Due to the genre's declining functionality, reliance on marketing using star actors and creators, as well as large production budgets, is likely to rise further. Concerns are growing that as the decline of terrestrial dramas becomes prolonged, the competitiveness of TV dramas may become ineffective.
[Photo] Provided by each broadcasting company.
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