Content matters more than platforms

A scene from recently finished JTBC drama “Misty” / Courtesy of JTBC

What viewership ratings don't tell

By Park Jin-hai

It looks like the tables have been turned as far as viewership numbers are concerned. In the past, dramas aired on the three major public channels ― KBS, MBC and SBS ― could easily garner over a 20 percent rating based on their absolute platform power. However, their invincibility has been broken, as the downplayed cable networks including tvN, JTBC and OCN are having a heyday.

Currently the SBS romantic comedy “My Husband, Mr. Oh!” and SBS's “Should We Kiss First?” can only save face to some degree with slightly more than a 10 percent rating, but other primetime dramas of the major broadcasters remain at 5 percent to 7 percent.

The recently finished KBS drama, “Radio Romance” and MBC's, “The Great Seducer,” despite taking prime-time slots, have at best clinched a 2 percent to 3 percent rating.

With a flood of new dramas hitting the small screen in the mistaken belief that even those with bad-ratings can make money from VOD sales and royalties, many have disappeared into obscurity in recent years. Low ratings have become all too common.

By contrast, cable channels, which used to consider anything above 1 percent as a success, have been on a winning streak with well-made dramas.

The recently finished JTBC drama “Misty” clinched an 8.5 percent rating, while tvN's “Mother” ended with 5 percent. The ongoing tvN dramas “Live” and “My Mister” have garnered 5.1 percent and 3.6 percent respectively; and OCN's “Children of a Lesser God” has 3.3 percent.

Experts, however, say that the cable channels' numbers don't mean anything in today's media.

“It is tempting to say that the cables are beating major channels. But, the thing is that viewership ratings of today don't mean anything,” said Jung Duk-hyun, a culture critic. “Current TV ratings don't include Internet and mobile viewers. Almost all the young generation doesn't watch shows in the traditional way, sitting down in front of their TVs, so it is obvious TV stations are losing real-time viewers.”

Nielsen, the U.S.-based ratings agency, started to include viewers from Facebook, Hulu and YouTube Video from August 2017, yet Korea is still discussing ways to measure comprehensive content consumption.

With so many media channels that air dramas, the power inherent on the conventional TV platforms is becoming less important, while content itself becomes ever more important, said Jung. “If content is good, people will find it and watch it, whether it is on JTBC or tvN. Under the current viewers' patterns, platforms don't really matter,” he said.

In the past, any bad drama on major TV stations could easily garner a viewership rating of 10percent to 20 percent, but their platform advantage has been practically lost now. In the tug of war between platform and content, the power balance has tipped in favor of content, according to the critic.

“The hegemony where TVs wielded absolute platform power has been broken. Today star writers with great content power choose other platforms. Baek Mi-kyung who worked with JTBC for her latest thriller 'The Lady in Dignity' chose KBS to air her upcoming human melodrama 'The Miracle We Met.' Based on the credibility certain platforms have built, writers choose the ones they think most suitable for their dramas,” Jung said. “JTBC, for instance, has made a hefty investment in its drama section and built credibility among creators that, regardless of ratings, they value quality dramas. They have earned a reputation that they are good at making social dramas.”