Article: "A 16-ep drama? Can’t watch it anymore because I get bored," Another thing Netflix changed
Source: Herald Economy
Netflix is changing viewing patterns causing burdens on the Korean entertainment industry.
The saying, "a drama must be 16 episodes" is a thing of the past. It has now become a trend to end a drama within 12 episodes without repeating meaningless scenes or stretching out a sloppy plot.
The change in viewing patterns that began with Netflix is even changing the K-drama TV production industry causing burdens on broadcasters. This is because there are several barriers, such as contract terms on CFs and an increase in the number of dramas to be produced annually.
Recent popular K-dramas 'Business Proposal', 'Thirty Nine', 'Through the Darkness' all have one thing in common, they're all 12-episode dramas and gained popularity due to their fast development and high sense of immersion resulting in high ratings.
The viewers reactions to "shorter dramas" is also positive as excessive flashback scenes and PPL cuts unrelated to the drama plot have been cited as factors that interfere with viewing. However, due to the short nature of 12 and 8 episode dramas, this issue is minimized, therefore viewers are able to enjoy the compact and fast-paced development.
However, Netflix who pioneered and popularized this trend, is causing high burdens on broadcasters who now have to produce more dramas leading to higher production costs. Also, due to the shortened viewing times, 'PPL' exposure and time is limited causing further strains on production costs.
- [+4,949, -29] If it's fun, I'll watch 50 episodes. If its not, I wont even watch 6..
- [+1,258, -77] Honestly, 12 episodes is too short. You can't really bring out any meaningful depth to the plot and everything feels rushed. This might work for rom coms but not for other genres.
- [+858, -365] 12 episodes is too short. It has to be at least 16 episodes to truly enjoy the drama. In the past, miniseries had 16 episodes, weekend dramas were 50 episodes, and if popular, they were extended to 100 episodes, and daily dramas had hundreds of episodes, but as the world changes, the drama trilogy also changes. But even if it was a 100 ep drama, if it was enjoyable and fun, I'd watch it all. It just feels like people are getting too short-tempered and impatient to sit through a long drama these days.
- [+411, -8] Cho Dae-young's 50 episode drama was really fun though..
- [+121, -1] If they make it well, I'd watch all 30 episodes and not just 16.
- [+98, -0] It's not that 16 eps is too long that you get bored, it's the fact that they stretch out the plot to 16 episodes so it gets harder to watch. If its produced well until the end, I'd watch it even if its a long drama.
- [+84, -1] Get it right! It's not because its too long but because the content is all the same and plot is over stretched so it gets boring and people quit the drama. Just produce one or two really good fun dramas and it'll be fine. The problem is the industry has remained stagnant with the same repeat plot lines for over a decade.
- [+77, -2] But the last week of 'Business Proposal' was really boring. Everything was just weak and vague and because they had to quickly wrap up things I lost focus in the last two episodes.
- [+72, -1] But honestly, there are times I get sad when a fun 16-episode drama comes to an end. I really thought the 12 ep trend in dramas is because writers were lacking good content plots but it looks like this is a strategic decision to follow trends? But I guess this is a least better than just stretching out plots to add another 1 or 2 episodes just because the drama got popular.
- [+70, -2] But <Temptation of My Wife> 129 episodes, and each episode was interesting. <Dae Jang Geum> 54 episodes, and every episode was fun too.
- [+56, -1] I honestly don't watch dramas or variety shows anymore because there's nothing to watch. It's all low-level boring crap. It's either chodings or gossip! What kind of kiss! or stories about everyone's day to day life. Why not do some historical dramas? Nowadays, entertainment is just a competition where they all try to one-up each other on whose content is sh*ttierㅋㅋ
- [+44, -0] 52 episodes of KBS weekend drama... main lead gets amnesia, recovery, work, and more memory lossㅋㅋ ? Even elementary chodings wouldn't write plots this stupid..