The Ratings Game - my 0.02
Oct. 19th, 2010 09:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieI was really sick last evening, but Mr Mousie, who is better than any kdrama hero to ever exist, coaxed me to eat dinner and then went out and bought me NyQuil so I could get some sleep. I am feeling much better, which is just as well as today is SKKS/Giant doubleheader :P
And that brings me, in a completely non-related way, to the topic of ratings. There was a fun discussion in some comments but I thought it would be good to have a post dedicated to it, so everyone could chip in with their opinions.
This fall, I've repeatedly seen puzzlement over the incongruity between Sungkyunkwan Scandal's and Mischievous Kiss' ratings and their on-line popularity. SKKS' ratings are respectable but modest (currently in the low teens) and MK's are a disaster flop by any definition. Yet English-language kdrama fandom is obsessed with these two dramas. There has been 20 times more discussion/drooling/activity related to MK than there was for Baker King, which was pulling in 10 times MK's ratings.
But to me, that incongruity is not particularly surprising.
1. No matter how dedicated and big the on-line fandom, it is not enough. Your drama/movie/music album won't be a hit unless the average audience member, the one who doesn't go on-line to dissect every line or post picspams, likes it too. Most viewers are not fans. To use American TV examples, if a large, vocal and dedicated on-line fandom was enough, Veronica Mars would still be on the air, Firefly would have been a hit movie, and Watchmen a cultural phenomenon. On-line fandom is a relatively small niche.
2. This contrast between fandom and average viewer is significant enough when both groups come from similar social/cultural backgrounds, but it's even more exacerbated in case of kdramas. Kdrama English on-line fandom is quite different from even kdrama Korean-language fandom (e.g. Daemul is not a huge English fandom hit but from what I know, Korean Daemul boards are hopping like mad). There is bound to be a general difference between foreign and domestic consumers anyway, due to different culture and knowledge and interests. There is a reason why behemoth period dramas do so well in the ratings but often less well abroad - let me put it this way - a miniseries about George Washington is a lot more interesting to Americans than it would be to anyone else. And of course, often on-line fandom is more adventurous than the TV-owning viewer who just wants to sit down to something mildly fun after a hard day's work - most of online English-speaking fans are not Korean yet they sought out entertainment from a different culture - by definition that would make them more open to quirky or unusual stuff than someone who just wants to relax in front of the telly for a couple of hours.
3. Of course, all the culture differences are also exacerbated by age difference. On-line English language kdrama fandom tends to skew overwhelmingly (a) female (b) young - teens to early twenties. Unless Korea underwent a startling demographic change while I was not paying attention, Korean population does not skew 90% girl teen :) And that does affect fandom v. ratings game. What a 15 year old fangirl wants to watch and what her 40 year old mother or father want to watch, are usually quite different. And there are a lot more of these 40 year old viewers in Korea than there are in on-line English language fandom. (That does not even take into account that even that relatively-small-segment-of-the-population-compared-to-its-role-in-fandom 15-yr-old Korean girl also often would have to defer to what her parents want to watch). That is why dramas which are big hits are usually period dramas, family sagas, etc - something that appeals more to adults than teens. And it is true, tastes do shift - even taking myself as an example, the more time goes on, the older I get, the less I like trendy romcoms and the more I like period and family dramas, as I progressed from 20-something to a 30-something married lady with a kid :) I would have adored You're Beautiful when I was 22. Now, at 32, it is dramas like Daemul, Giant, and Gloria which catch my eye.
Ultimately, ratings are just a source of stress :) I always get happy when a favorite does well (Chuno!!!!!) but I never begrudge a drama I don't like hit status (e.g. Dong Yi) because even if it's not my thing, everyone involved in it worked hard. And when a drama I like does poorly, I console myself with knowledge of my superior taste :)
Your turn!
And that brings me, in a completely non-related way, to the topic of ratings. There was a fun discussion in some comments but I thought it would be good to have a post dedicated to it, so everyone could chip in with their opinions.
This fall, I've repeatedly seen puzzlement over the incongruity between Sungkyunkwan Scandal's and Mischievous Kiss' ratings and their on-line popularity. SKKS' ratings are respectable but modest (currently in the low teens) and MK's are a disaster flop by any definition. Yet English-language kdrama fandom is obsessed with these two dramas. There has been 20 times more discussion/drooling/activity related to MK than there was for Baker King, which was pulling in 10 times MK's ratings.
But to me, that incongruity is not particularly surprising.
1. No matter how dedicated and big the on-line fandom, it is not enough. Your drama/movie/music album won't be a hit unless the average audience member, the one who doesn't go on-line to dissect every line or post picspams, likes it too. Most viewers are not fans. To use American TV examples, if a large, vocal and dedicated on-line fandom was enough, Veronica Mars would still be on the air, Firefly would have been a hit movie, and Watchmen a cultural phenomenon. On-line fandom is a relatively small niche.
2. This contrast between fandom and average viewer is significant enough when both groups come from similar social/cultural backgrounds, but it's even more exacerbated in case of kdramas. Kdrama English on-line fandom is quite different from even kdrama Korean-language fandom (e.g. Daemul is not a huge English fandom hit but from what I know, Korean Daemul boards are hopping like mad). There is bound to be a general difference between foreign and domestic consumers anyway, due to different culture and knowledge and interests. There is a reason why behemoth period dramas do so well in the ratings but often less well abroad - let me put it this way - a miniseries about George Washington is a lot more interesting to Americans than it would be to anyone else. And of course, often on-line fandom is more adventurous than the TV-owning viewer who just wants to sit down to something mildly fun after a hard day's work - most of online English-speaking fans are not Korean yet they sought out entertainment from a different culture - by definition that would make them more open to quirky or unusual stuff than someone who just wants to relax in front of the telly for a couple of hours.
3. Of course, all the culture differences are also exacerbated by age difference. On-line English language kdrama fandom tends to skew overwhelmingly (a) female (b) young - teens to early twenties. Unless Korea underwent a startling demographic change while I was not paying attention, Korean population does not skew 90% girl teen :) And that does affect fandom v. ratings game. What a 15 year old fangirl wants to watch and what her 40 year old mother or father want to watch, are usually quite different. And there are a lot more of these 40 year old viewers in Korea than there are in on-line English language fandom. (That does not even take into account that even that relatively-small-segment-of-the-population-compared-to-its-role-in-fandom 15-yr-old Korean girl also often would have to defer to what her parents want to watch). That is why dramas which are big hits are usually period dramas, family sagas, etc - something that appeals more to adults than teens. And it is true, tastes do shift - even taking myself as an example, the more time goes on, the older I get, the less I like trendy romcoms and the more I like period and family dramas, as I progressed from 20-something to a 30-something married lady with a kid :) I would have adored You're Beautiful when I was 22. Now, at 32, it is dramas like Daemul, Giant, and Gloria which catch my eye.
Ultimately, ratings are just a source of stress :) I always get happy when a favorite does well (Chuno!!!!!) but I never begrudge a drama I don't like hit status (e.g. Dong Yi) because even if it's not my thing, everyone involved in it worked hard. And when a drama I like does poorly, I console myself with knowledge of my superior taste :)
Your turn!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-10-19 03:21 pm (UTC)I too, however, console myself with my superior taste when something gets the axe. However, given all the rubbish I watch on a regular basis that might not be a very good thing to say. :)
no subject
Date: 2010-10-19 09:19 pm (UTC)Online fandom is dreadfully convinced of its own importance but sadly, it has little power. Otherwise every show would be wall to wall hot guys sticking their tongues down each other's throat.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-19 06:16 pm (UTC)The dynamics aren't that different from what you'd find elsewhere. All the points you made, the scheduling decisions (when and where i.e. the timeslot to launch the drama), the influence of advertisers (who can tell us a thing or two from their own market research), ... they all play a role in these high-stakes games.
I could and would never try to predict what ratings any drama would pull before it premieres, but I wouldn't expect anything over 15%:
* if they can't win over more than two different groups of demos. How they can win over is up for grab-- obviously solid storytelling and acting from the outset would help immensely, but if the drama's taking some risks, it helps to find some balance btw the risky factors and more conventional strategies, which is what I think dramas like IRIS or Daemul have done fairly well from the beginning. But one way or another, the drama has to find a way to appeal to a broad segment of the population if it's aiming past 10-15%. Past 25-30% and the data will show the drama's winning over 3-4 groups. (GHJ gained a whole new generation of young fans--children and teenagers--via QSD, in the same way she won over viewers--esp. male--in their 20-30s with Sandglass.)
* Job's harder if the drama's launched opposite established dramas, kinda like what happened to SKKS squeezed btw DongYi and Giant. How to make viewers switch channels or draw new viewers... luck, word of mouth, continued solid storytelling, who knows.
* It hurts if they can't win over in the first week or two. (I have no idea if Runaway or RN1 improved afterwards, but falling out of favor in those first weeks were a huge blow.) But it's not impossible to recover, not at all. Gumiho Tale of the Fox Child, Queen of Housewives, The Woman in the Sun, Last Scandal, More Beautiful Than A Flower... those are just a few examples I can think of who built on their audience with among other things strong word of mouth and good reviews.
e.g. Daemul is not a huge English fandom hit but from what I know, Korean Daemul boards are hopping like mad.
It does hop more in Korea-- Daemul and Flames of Desire are the rare examples in which I saw the MBC Drama DCgallery (which is like the TWoP equivalent for all dramas on network TV; the KBS gallery sticks to its own and the SBS gallery is inactive) go wild recently, even though Daemul isn't on MBC. And the buzz, the word of mouth is very strong elsewhere as well, to the point where anybody will be tempted to know what the fuss is about. (Unlike the tepid reactions to Runaway.) But even in Korea, SKKS has a much larger online presence than Daemul. Who knows, maybe it'll grow to have more established fanboards here and there (ie. forum dedicated to discussing and dissecting all things Daemul), but I think it's more likely to end up like IRIS than the more mania-driven dramas. It's great fun (DoYa and his boss were a huge hit last week, for reasons you'll see soon), and great catharsis (the most popular scene from ep. 4 was DoYa besting the politicians), but it's not the type to spark mania like for SKKS, Capital Scandal, Resurrection.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-19 06:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-19 09:18 pm (UTC)I think if the drama is too narrowly targeted, no matter how good it is and how rabid the targeted population will be about it, it won't be a hit. There has to be something for everyone. E.g. You're Beautiful (not a drama I like) - I would imagine most 25+ women and most men of any age were not targeted by it at all and didn't care for it. Or my favorite Worlds Within - brilliant drama but way to idisyncratic and quirky - I could see why it never got out of single digits. O
no subject
Date: 2010-10-19 11:00 pm (UTC)====================================================
I haven't seen much of the Hong Sisters' stuff outside a few clips of Fantasy Couple (which many Koreans seem to cite as their favorite HS drama), but the criticisms I often heard on DCgall vs YAB or Gumiho were that they're too manhwa-ish and the HS are just recycling their stuff. Nothing wrong with that, but not exactly an outreach strategy.
Noh's dramas also provide some interesting examples re: this dilemma with ratings. The only one I watched is More Beautiful Than A Flower (2004), and from what I gather, her more family-oriented work (like MBTAF, which is built around a mother, two daughters and youngest son) has indeed done better in the ratings (MBTAF's finale came close to 30%). It too started out in single digits (ran opposite the juggernaut Stairway to Heaven), but began to draw viewers who wanted more grounded storylines, though it'd never have risen much if Stairway had stayed on air (so yes, luck plays a part). But here's the more interesting dilemma-- if MBTAF had been a weekend drama, Noh would have been happy just writing family stuff. But because it was on weekdays (Wed-Thurs), she said she felt like it needed something extra, which was why she threw in the 2nd daughter's doomed, star-crossed love story with the man who was responsible for her brother's death. And both Noh and the director (who will now be leading Daemul's team, but that's a whole different story) said their toughest challenge was to balance the two worlds (the family stuff and what they felt was the contrived melodrama), though I'd never have guessed any tensions from what I saw.
Noh's more recent work (there's a persistent rumor she has something lined up but the network/KBS is reluctant to give her timeslot)-- the criticisms I hear is that it's fine if she wants to be in her own world, but if she wants better ratings, she needs to learn how to engage and communicate with a broader audience than those who're more familiar or receptive to her work. It's her choice, and some have suggested she might feel less pressure writing books than writing TV scripts (they sell quite well apparently).
no subject
Date: 2010-10-20 01:36 am (UTC)The only one of Noh's dramas I've seen is Worlds Within and it wasn't like anything I've ever seen. It really did remind me of novels I used to read - Herve Bazin or similar. Or maybe shades of Jorge Amado's interconnected, deeply humanistic stories or EM Remarque's love story - with each scene conveying the ephemeral feeling (minus Remarque's sense of loss and doom). It is the only time I have ever come across a drama which felt like a novel in visual form. I can see why it was a flop as it was so different but I will be eternally grateful for having seen it. I also have her Goodbye Solo, which I am sort of hoarding and I actually found Flower with subtitles and I intend to get my hands on it.
K-drama round-up
Date: 2010-10-25 10:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-26 05:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-26 04:22 pm (UTC)