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| ‘Youth over Flowers,' which started airing on Aug. 1, features three male singer-songwriters in their 40s backpacking through Latin America. / Courtesy of CJ E&M |
Cable channels have captured viewers' attention with fresh ideas for dramas and entertainment programs.
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| ‘Sisters over Flowers,' second in the hit tvN ‘Flowers' travel series, follows the European journey of four renowned TV and film actresses. / Courtesy of CJ E&M |
Kim Yu-mi doesn't watch major television channels such as KBS, MBC or SBS as much as before.
The 34-year-old Seoulite, who describes herself a "television show-gore," instead, watches cable networks. Kim said it has been a while since her television remote control stayed on cable channels.
"Cable networks seem to know exactly who their shows are aiming for. While major channels try to embrace every age group, cables are specialized on specific age bracket. To me, cable TV shows are much more interesting," Kim said.
Like Kim, more people watch television entertainment shows and dramas through cable networks than through major channels.
It is now a thing of past that KBS TV's entertaining travel show "1 Night, 2 Days" enjoyed more than 40 percent of viewership every Sunday and MBC TV's long-running variety show "Infinite Challenge" witnessed nearly 30 percent in ratings. Nowadays, only around 10 percent of viewers watch those shows.
Cable channels have captured viewers' attention with fresh ideas for dramas and entertainment programs.
Culture critic Bae Kook-nam said the growing popularity of cable networks' shows and dramas came from their economical decision making structure.
"Compared with major television channels, cable networks have more concise and fast decision making system as they have more compact organizational structure," Bae said.
"When a major channel plans to launch its new show, it needs to be approved by multiple layers of decision makers. But, cable channels don't need that."
He also pointed out cable channels could have their strength because they could more practice their selection and concentration strategy than major broadcasters.
"Cable channels don't need to satisfy every age group as they don't have sizable viewers base like majors. This enables cable channels to deal with specific programs that can only target particular age groups," Bae said.
Leading the cable boom is tvN, an affiliate cable network of the country's entertainment mogul CJ E&M.
The entertainment show and drama-specialized-network made their breakthrough last year with "Reply 1994" and "Grandpas over Flowers."
"Grandpas over Flowers," a reality-travel show that casts actors in their 70s to travel around the world was another smash hit product of tvN.
Comprised of veteran actors, the show follows their global trotting journey including France, Spain, Taiwan and more, shaping elderly viewers' fantasies to trip around the world. The average rate of this show chalked up around six to seven percent, which is tremendous in cable network business. Thanks to its huge popularity, the actors featuring in the show enjoyed huge popularity along with appearing in lots of TV commercials.
Stimulated by success of "Grandpas over Flowers," major channels also have broadcasted travel shows casting aged actors.
"Grandpas over Flowers," however, didn't stop at just starring aged male actors — tvN has launched its affiliated travel shows casting celebrities in different age groups.
Last November, "Sisters over Flowers," featuring actresses between 40s and 60s, started to be aired. The show travelled around Turkey and Croatia, and it drew immense popularity, marking 7.5 percent of average viewers' rating.
On the first day of this month, another affiliated show, "Youth over Flowers" began airing. With three male singer-songwriters in their 40s, the show follows them backpacking South American countries. Though it has been airing only three episodes of 10, it has recorded average ratings of 5.8 percent, developing a bond with various age groups including males in their 30 and 40s and females in their 40s and 50s.
"Reply 1994" was created in tune with the retro trend, which was ignited by the 2011 film, "Sunny" and the 2012 film "Architecture 101," focusing on the good old days. Mainly aiming for audiences in their 30s and 40s, the romance comedy drama, set in the year 1994, became a sensation last winter, revisiting the youth culture of 1990s. The last episode of the drama drew 11.9 percent of viewing rate, the highest in history of cable networks.
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