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!
