New Friday-night Dramas, Additional Saturday-Sunday Dramas... Why Are Broadcasters Increasing the Number of Dramas?

Broadcasters' drama programming experiment continues in the second half of the year. Some broadcasters, who have resumed their weekday programming, are repeatedly discussing the discovery of a new 'string of programming' that did not exist before.

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JTBC will introduce its new Friday series starting in July. It will release two episodes consecutively every Friday evening, in parallel with the currently aired Saturday and Sunday dramas. This will increase JTBC's weekend drama titles to two.

"Kind Gentleman", starring Lee Dong-wook and Lee Sung-kyung, which will air for the first time next month, has been selected as the first batter of the Friday series. "MY YOUTH", a combination of Song Joong-ki and Chun Woo-hee, and "Love Me", which stars Seo Hyun-jin based on a Swedish drama of the same name, will be released as a Friday series by early next year. This is the result of JTBC's aggressive deployment of leading dramas by top stars with the aim of successfully settling the Friday series.

KBS is also planning to change its 'weekend play' system. KBS has maintained the format of a weekend drama routine, broadcasting more than 50 episodes of family drama on Saturday and Sunday evening hours on 2TV. Starting from the second half of the year, KBS plans to add a mini-series at 10 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday to showcase weekend dramas and 'Sat-Sun dramas' simultaneously.

"Twelve", featuring actors Ma Dong-seok, Park Hyung-sik, Seo In-guk, and Lee Joo-bin, is likely to be the first product of KBS's new Saturday-Sunday drama. "A Lucky Day", starring Lee Young-ae and Kim Young-kwang, and "Last Summer", starring Lee Jae-wook and Choi Sung-eun, are being discussed as follow-ups. KBS is also looking to diversify its genres by reviewing various action fantasy, thriller, and romantic comedy.

Recently, as the preoccupation of 'weekend prime time', which covers Friday to Sunday, has become more urgent than ever among broadcasters, related changes are accelerating. Earlier, SBS and KBS organized dramas in various formats on weekdays, including Wednesday and Thursday dramas, but all of them remained in the 1% range, putting them on alert as they achieved disastrous results.

An official from a groundwave broadcaster told JTBC Entertainment News on the 19th, "The broadcasters who organized dramas on various days of the year have become more aware of the importance of a 'loyal audience' that turns on TV inertially and rarely turns the channels", adding, "Each broadcaster is making all-out efforts to set up a 'weekend prime time' to secure the 'channel power' of the weekend with a solid fixed audience".

As many broadcasters are airing "Tentpole" dramas all at once on weekends, competition for viewership is expected to reach its peak by early next year. Some broadcasters are considering flexible operation instead of immediately abolishing the current weekday drama. Idol-turned-star lead dramas or 'experimental works', which are advantageous for overseas OTT sales, and are also cost-effective with unique materials, are being discussed for once a week.

Production companies and actors, who have suffered from 'programming difficulties' for a while as the drama market shrinks due to rising production costs and recessions, are carefully watching the recent changes in the number of dramas gradually increasing. SLL expressed its expectation on the establishment of JTBC's Friday series, saying, "The expansion of the number of regular productions will enable a stable supply of content".