Ministry of Culture and KOCCA-Supported Productions Gain Great Popularity in Second Half
Trend Expected to Continue Next Year with Titles Like 'Bam-e Pineun Kkot'
'Strong Woman Kang Nam-soon', 'Boyhood', 'Play You Level Up: The World Where Villains Live', and 'Gwak Jun-bin's World Driver's Restaurant.' These contents that gained popularity in the second half of the year share one thing in common. They are all recipients of the broadcasting and video production support project promoted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency. On the 26th, Kwon Kyung-bon, head of the Broadcasting and Video Headquarters at KOCCA, said, "We are pleased to continue the growth of K-dramas and variety shows through the successive success of supported works," adding, "We will strengthen the support system to ensure that intellectual property (IP), which is the foundation for discovering excellent content and sustaining growth, is secured."
'Strong Woman Kang Nam-soon' is a supported work in the broadcasting and video category. It was praised as a Korean-style family hero story by uniquely and attractively portraying the story of a woman born with superhuman strength. The viewership rating reached 10.4% in the final episode, ranking first among non-terrestrial channels. It also topped online video services (OTT) in fourteen countries.
'Boyhood', a supported work in the OTT-specialized category, is set in the 1980s Chungcheong Province. It depicts episodes that occur when the protagonist Jang Byung-tae (Im Si-wan) is mistaken for the boss of Buyeo. The immersive storyline and Im Si-wan's acting attracted attention, resulting in a total viewing time increase of 1938% compared to the first week of release.
'Play You Level Up: The World Where Villains Live' is a supported work in the OTT-specialized non-drama variety category. The format, where viewers and Yoo Jae-suk communicate in real-time to complete missions, was evaluated as an advancement in next-generation interactive variety shows. Head Kwon explained, "It is a case of building a highly complete worldview by borrowing the popular webtoon and web novel IP 'Solo Leveling' format."
Another supported work in the same category, 'Gwak Jun-bin's World Driver's Restaurant', is a reality program where travel creator Gwak Jun-bin, who has 1.7 million subscribers, visits local taxi drivers and driver’s restaurants in various countries to enjoy travel from a local perspective. It recorded over 13 million views on its YouTube channel and was widely loved both domestically and internationally. Due to its high popularity, production of season 2 has been confirmed. Head Kwon said, "It is meaningful as an experimental attempt that appropriately combines collaboration with YouTube creators and traditional broadcasting reality production methods." He added, "It is also noteworthy that by securing IP rights, the IP's added value has been expanded into various formats such as OTT, live streaming, and shorts."
The popularity streak of supported works is expected to continue next year. The most anticipated content is 'Lee Jae, Soon Dead', whose Part 1 was released on the 15th. The drama depicts Lee Jae (Seo In-guk), who is about to fall into hell, experiencing twelve deaths and lives by the judgment of Death (Park So-dam). It attracted attention even before airing due to its star-studded cast and entered the top 10 in viewership on Prime Video in twenty countries within three days of release. Part 2 will be released on the 5th of next month.
Starting from the 12th of next month, the Friday-Saturday drama 'Flower Blooming at Night' will air. It is a comic action historical drama centered on Yeo-hwa (Lee Ha-nee), who leads a double life as a chaste widow by day and a warrior by night. Directed by Jang Tae-yoo, known for 'My Love from the Star' and 'Deep Rooted Tree', it is receiving high attention.
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