”The Seasons” and sitcoms both have 0% viewership...KBS loses value of license fee

The public's reaction to KBS's recent steps was that the subscription fee was too much and that they would not watch it even if the MC changed.

The emergence of various content platforms such as OTT (online video services) and Youtube has deepened the worries of TV stations, who have decided that they need the competitiveness of a TV platform alone. However, KBS was unable to showcase enough content to lock in a channel and ended up with a 0% viewer rating.

KBS tried to capture younger viewers through ‘The Seasons’ and revive its vanished sitcoms through the drama ‘Kiki Kiki’, but missed out on both. Park Jae-beom, Lee Hyo-ri, Choi Jung-hoon of ‘JANNABI’, AKMU, ZICO and Lee Young-ji appeared as MCs in ‘The Seasons’, but were unable to pull viewers in front of the TV screen as they were stuck in their old image.

On the 21st, the sixth show of KBS2's “The Seasons”, “Lee Yong-ji's Rainbow”, came to an end. Even PD Na Yong-seok appeared on KBS for the first time in 13 years to support Lee Yong-ji, but was unable to pull out of the classics. According to ratings research company Nielsen Korea, the ratings for the last episode were only 1.1% on a national household basis. This is still the highest rating of the season.

The MC taking over from Lee Yong-ji is actor Park Bo Gum. KBS described this as an ‘unprecedented’ move, as it was the first time an actor had been used for ‘The Seasons’. However, the public is more concerned than hopeful about the new MC for ‘The Seasons’, which is in its second year of 0% viewer ratings.

In addition to ‘The Seasons’, KBS's sitcom ‘Kiki Kiki’ has also been a red light. ‘Kiki Kiki’ is a comedy drama with no comedy, and is made to make viewers laugh, but also to make them disappear. It recorded the lowest viewer rating ever among KBS Wednesday-Thursday dramas that were revived in August last year.

Kiki Kiki, which started with a rating of 2.1%, has shown declines of 1.0% for episode 2, 1.2% for episode 3, 0.7% for episode 4, 1.0% for episode 5 and 0.7% for episode 6. Actors Ji Jin-hee and Lee Kyu-hyun were pushed out but failed to attract any interest. This compares with the ratings of the previously aired dramas Face Me and Suspicious Girlfriend, which recorded ratings in the 3.3% and 4.0% range, respectively.

Viewers are leaving legacy media and moving to OTT. This is an era of not watching content on TV any more. It is difficult for existing TV stations to sustain their programmes if they only function as a platform concept, or if they fail to grasp the audience and only look for the best, while SBS and MBC are strengthening their Friday and Saturday dramas to gain high viewer ratings and buzz, and tvN and JTBC are continuously experimenting with variety and drama in each genre, looking for freshness. The tvN and JTBC are searching for freshness through continuous attempts in each genre, such as variety and drama. While the various TV stations are looking for a breakthrough through their problems and challenges, KBS is still regarded as being unable to grasp what the public wants. This is because it is unable to gain competitiveness in both drama and variety shows.

Jung Duk-hyun, a popular culture critic, believes that KBS needs to make changes to this course of action. He said, ‘’The Seasons and Kiki Kiki were both low-story attempts, but they may not fit with KBS" and that "as a public broadcaster that receives subscription fees from the public, it is reasonable to produce and strengthen content that reinforces public nature rather than doing temporary programmes that chase after trendy elements."

He continued, stressing the need for change to convince the public with programmes that can gain fixed viewers and programmes that strengthen the public nature, as well as new attempts.