Ratings War! Old tricks always win!

Ratings War! Old tricks always win!

Last year was a good year for us K-drama addicts. No matter how different our tastes are, we all found something that kept us hooked and waiting eagerly. However, in my opinion this year just wasn't as good. Even with the good popular shows, it was still a year full of disappointment after disappointment. It seems like the viewers in Korea also felt the same way. No matter what new ideas or plot twists the writers tried to use, the ratings kept on sliding. Many channels struggled, and only MBC really seemed to get back on its feet after it 'failed' last year. So how did it not only stay in the safe zone, but excel and win in the ratings war(at least in this season)? 

This season, MBC is topping the ratings in 4 different time slots by sticking to Makjang & Sageuk (historical)  dramas! 

- Some of the highest rated dramas of this year are Come Jang Bori & Empress Ki.

- Night Watchman (a little above 10%), Mama (reached 19.5% last week), My Spring Day (not so great ratings but still doing fine at ~9%!) & Come Jang Bori (~38% in the latest episode. This is perhaps the highest rated drama of the year?!) are all topping their time slots ratings.

KBS2 is only doing well in daily dramas, but struggling in the rest.

- Blade Man 5-6% - Discovery of Romance 6-7% - Hi School Love On 2.5-3%! 

- Even family dramas like Wonderful Days and the currently airing What's With This Family?are barely surviving over 20% even with their star studded casts & popular writers.

SBS' Makjang-free policy has caused made the channel to be stuck in middle place with none of their dramas being able to pass 10%. I'd prefer Makjang to the cliché Rom/Coms they're making these days. It's no wonder that they've lost the Wed/Thurs slot they controlled for so long. The decline in ratings started with Three Days, and just kept on dropping. 

- Now My Lovely Girl is getting between 7-8% but maybe Pinocchio will do better considering its cast and writers. There's also potential in Secret Door, so maybe this high quality Sageuk will save them.

tvN is also struggling...Due to horrible ratings, two shows that  have been very popular with international fans are being shortened.

- Surplus Princess had 0.5% ratings, while Age Ending in Nine Boy had 1%. Dramas in their slots had average ratings of between 2-4% before.

- Even The Three Musketeers which is a high budget drama is struggling to keep 1% viewership.  My Secret Hotel is also down to 0.7%.

jTBC has been airing some good quality dramas lately!

- Yoo Na's Street is consistently bringing around 2 % ratings. Though it's not doing as high as Secret Love Affair (which reached a whopping 5% in its finale) it's still doing good.

TV Chosun is doing fine too!

- Into The Flames reached 2% while airing (although it has a great cast, good writer, original
topic and even a nice OST, we're not able to view it for the lack of subtitles - I am sure it would've been a different story if an idol was in it *Sigh*). 

- Now that Best Wedding started airing, it's doing well for its 1st week. It has a fresh idea but I wonder if casting popular second leads as the main leads will be enough to attract viewers.

OCN's ratings are pretty regular with 1-2% average viewership. Though, Reset did a better job than God's Quiz Season 4.  The pilot episode of Bad Guys reached 2.1% viewership and it even peaked to 3.2% during some moments. It already took the first place for its time slot. If things continue as they have, then we're probably looking at the highest rated drama for OCN this year.

Even though the year hasn't ended yet, it's obvious that the winner in the ratings war (especially this season) is MBC. This will definitely affect next year projects.

So did your favorite 2014 drama do well? Which channel's dramas have you enjoy the most?