3 Major Public Broadcasters Considering A “60-Minute Rule” For Dramas

[citzera.livejournal.com]

The three major public broadcasters in Korea (KBS, MBC, SBS) are considering a new 60-minute rule for dramas to reduce some of the cutthroat ratings competition and revitalize a stagnating market.

The heads of the KBS, MBC, and SBS drama heads (Jung Sung Hyo, Jang Geun Soo, and Kim Yeong Seob respectively) had a meeting last week to talk about reducing drama runtimes. The big idea on the table was reducing weekday and weekend miniseries to 60 minutes and soap operas to 30 minutes. The new runtimes would be including commercial breaks.

Currently the three broadcasters are working in a fierce ratings competition by releasing dramas in the same time slot. If a drama runs a little longer than its competitor, it has a better chance of getting higher ratings. To stop this sort of tactic, the three broadcasters had agreed on a “72-minute rule” in 2009. In 2013 they shortened it again to a “67-minute rule.”

If a 20-episode mini-series is reduced by an average of 5 minutes per episode, about 100 minutes (almost two episodes’ worth) would be saved overall. Currently production companies spend about 500 million won (about $440,000) per episode, so they could save about 1 billion won (about $880,000) with the new rule.

The reason that this new rule has been brought up recently is the worsening state of the drama environment. China has reduced the amount of Korean cultural content it imports, and in Japan the Hallyu wave is slower than it once was. However, Hallyu stars still command high guarantees, and with the rise in labor costs, the production cost has also increased. Meanwhile, the alternative for raising revenue by reducing production costs, in-product placement, and commercial breaks is becoming a popular one as well.

SBS drama head Kim Yeong Seob said, “It’s not about the competition so much as activating the drama market. If we reduce the runtime, we reduce production costs, but the quality of content will improve as the production staff’s burden decreases.”

In order for the 60-minute rule to be applied in the actual drama industry, a more specific agreement needs to be reached between the three broadcasters. For example, the currently broadcasting KBS drama “Laurel Tree Tailors” is guaranteed at least 30 percent ratings, and reducing the runtime would necessarily result in reducing the number of commercials that could be broadcast with it. Since each broadcaster has differing interests, it is necessary to coordinate them.

MBC head Jang Geun Soo said, “It is true that the three public broadcasters have talked about the 60-minute rule but we still have to discuss our opinions before anything is concluded.”

Source: Soompi, Naver
(x)
Yes please. All broadcasters should follow suit tbh.

Comments

[tjmok125.livejournal.com]

This honestly sounds dumb and even more detrimental for ratings. I personally think Korean script writers already have a hard time getting to the meat of the story with the long episodes, I couldn't imagine how lacking the story would be with only 60 min. Would they create double the amount of episodes or still have 16-20 60min long episodes. As a viewer that would drive me crazy and probably deter me from watching altogether unless writers figure out how to stop the 12 episodes of flashbacks and not wait until episode 12 out of 16 to get to the point.

[ah0000.livejournal.com]

On the contrary I feel this might help make things more tight and cohesive, they can cut out more filler.

Idk if you're referring to Hwarang, the amount of flashbacks they used drove me NUTS. When I saw a flashback of literally the previous scene I wanted to throw my iPad across the room. The fact that this show was so effing long already with all the action happening in the last 2 episodes didn't help and that the plot was poorly written and then on top of that the flashbacks, ugh. And yet I still watched the whole thing mostly lol

[ty.livejournal.com]

ia with your first sentence

[mjspice.livejournal.com]

Mte on the filler thing.

[citzera.livejournal.com]

That's interesting. I think I want the same thing, but I'd rather they do it by limiting the minutes available, since it would hopefully force script writers to think their plot through before they start filming (and therefore pre-produce more) so that they fit their story in the time allowed for the drama. I can't stand the way some dramas use the first 10 minutes of an episode to re-cap the end of the previous episode from another angle or with more information. Such a waste of time.
And, imo, if you need like 16 episodes of 100 minutes to tell your story, it's probably too complicated or not focused enough on the main plot.

[jrt131n.livejournal.com]

How about just get better script writers who are better at telling stories and not just the same thing over and over again...

[kyokomurasaki.livejournal.com]

idk how this will go over domestically but I think this is good for international viewers who may be used to shorter episodes of shows. The only show I know of on US television that's an hour and a half long is the Bachelor and they could really stand to cut down their episode length as well..

I'm not sure how prevalent binge-watching is for dramas but for me it's way easier to power through three 30-minute episodes than try to watch one movie-length episode at a time.

[mjspice.livejournal.com]

NGL but this is nothing compared to Turkish dramas. One episode is 2 hours long.

[hibaalhadid.livejournal.com]

And you can skip several episodes and come back without missing any major scenes LOL. I only watched like 2 dramas and stopped it. For me korean drama is faster than the Turkish

[jinkiestabi.livejournal.com]

I'm fine with this. Doesn't matter how long or short the drama is, there's always a cliffhanger. And THAT is the problem, but the only way to keep me coming back, lol.

So the alternative is writers could do more interesting storylines (Signal, Angry Mom, God's Gift, etc.) and really work on trying to fill the episodes with good scenes that help the plot. But as someone who is a less than amateur fiction writer at best, it's easier for me to say than it is to do.

[nrafx.livejournal.com]

yep, i was going to say, often i feel like eps start to drag because there's always the need to end on a cliffhanger lol... it gets rly repetitive and messes with pacing/structure when there's not enough plot to justify it

[tsuyoi-hikari.livejournal.com]

I wish Korean dramas writers are more creative like their Japanese counterparts. Japanese writers always come out with more unique and creative plots/storylines with absolutely satisfying endings!

[amandaplan.livejournal.com]

how do korean dramas air over there ? is it 2hr blocks with 1 commercial break in the middle? idg why the have been so long in the first place.

[pippopippo.livejournal.com]

Wish TVN would join the club; their longass episodes (for the Reply series, Goblin, etc.) make watching such a drag sometimes.

[keytfelt.livejournal.com]

I totally agree. Around 2012/2013 tvN dramas used to be like 45 minutes and it was perfect and then they started extending them longer and longer. There is no reason for a show that airs two episodes a week to be movie length. I still haven't finished 88 because the episode length exhausts me.
(Also I love your icon)

[tsuyoi-hikari.livejournal.com]

Goblin is such a drag but Reply 1988 is not tbh. I dont mind at all the long episodes (I didnt even realize it was long right until the end lol) since the story is pretty much very interesting and compelling. It was so well written as well that I actually watch it twice and I rarely done this to many kdramas.

[pineapple-soda.livejournal.com]

mtee

[antrea.livejournal.com]

omfg TVN kills me now - Entourage was so bad I probably would've still dropped it at ep 3 anyway but they made the bad episodes even worse by making them over an hour?? I was literally crying trying to get through those

[mjspice.livejournal.com]

Lmao that gif. I can't believe they promoted Gong Yoo's own film that way.

I'm ok with this. 30 mins is better & much easier to watch than a one hour episode.

[reasontowander.livejournal.com]

yes, cut that shit down. drama episodes nowadays are so freaking long, I just want to watch a tv show not a 20 part movie marathon

[demeulemeester.livejournal.com]

they'd probably already be 60 minutes it they cut out all the damn action replays and flashbacks to shit i just watched happen 2 minutes ago.

[antrea.livejournal.com]

+1

[premonitioner.livejournal.com]

I stopped watching kdramas a few years ago, mostly because I was tired of having endless flashbacks of stuff that happened in the previous/earlier in the episode, and the whole 'this is a romantic scene so we must shoot it from 82 different angles including 16 aerial shots whilst the theme song plays and the actors stand still' thing. if reducing the episode length cuts out some of that nonsense, then go for it

[contralilium.livejournal.com]

I'm hoping that this happens, a lot of kdramas I've watched (or tried to watch) are too long. There's no reason for every episode to be over 60 minutes, most dramas don't even have enough 'meat' to fill that time. I loved Age of Youth so much but I definitely found it hard to get through the episodes right before the final arc. At one point, I would watch one episode over the course of a few days, because I could not get myself to watch it in one sitting but I also didn't want to miss anything by fastforwarding. Also, if this helps writers cut some extra stuff out of their scripts, like flashbacks to something a character said literally six minutes ago, I'm all for it.

[broadcities.livejournal.com]

i don't mind tv-shows being an hour or even longer, but one thing that frustrates me in a lot of kdramas is that some dramas take sooo long without any meaningful plot or character development, so in that sense i hope this rule will help writers structure their shows. but to be honest, i don't think it will.