My fave web Kdramas are all from 2021 and of course I watched it all and ended up each having a beanie: Blue Birthday (suspenseful web Kdrama), Bite Sisters (very fun web Kdrama about female vampire trio), Shadow Beauty (another darkest web Kdrama thriller), military drama DP and even the successful thrilling web Kdrama Squid Game which recently an Emmy-nominated.

Go Ho’s starry night is an oldie but a goodie! It would probably do well as a full-fledged drama too.

I like they are quick and easy to watch and generally not deep like a film. So you can watch in one go or bite sized chunks of time if you are busy. They do great teen drama like A-teen, Big mistake, Beautiology 101, or fantasy like Romance full of life, Queen of the ring, Splash splash love, Scripting your destiny, Timing.

They can raise important messages in a short story format. The one I thought did this really well, unfortunately, I can’t remember the name of it used each episode to show a character experience which was based on things to look out for at University. It covered body shaming, bullying, mutual consent when filming sex etc. big topics but very easy to get the message across of what it looked like and how to deal with it.

I was going through something, and though I "didn’t click on this web drama when I was browsing YouTube at 2AM" like @missvictrix, I clicked on Longing for Spring on a whim, and it was the pick-me-up that I desperately needed. It was crazy heart-fluttering since friends-to-lovers is my catnip and made me a forever fan of Lee Won-geun.

I remember deciding to watch High End Crush because of its peculiar OST, the theme song!🤣
I have never imagine or even guess such song to be a drama OST. The theme song sounds so inviting and actually quite sum up the mood of entire drama. Peculiar, absurd, sometimes random, but also feels familiar. I enjoyed Jung Ilwoo's and Lee Sieon's performance and honestly i have never experienced anything like that with other kdramas.
Maybe i should rewatch it someday.

Here are my favorites:
1. Mermaid Prince: the beginning
2. Find me if you can
3. Salty idol
4. Who kissed me?

Are all web dramas for example 10 ten-minute episodes? I have only watched one a few years ago, it was meant to be a slowburn romance, but it had cliffhangers at the end of each episode, and it seriously felt like whiplash every ten minutes. I couldn't think of it as a quick easy watch because the whole 100 minutes was either encountering a cliffhanger or a reveal. There was no room or time for any character development to make me care for anything. I have avoided web dramas since then, but I can't help thinking maybe that was only a very badly made one, and maybe there are some that can make me care.

I think the major positive of web dramas is experience for new writers, directors and actors to learn their craft.
The major negative is that they try to perform beyond the confines of their experiences.
The format can lend itself to telling simple stories well (like many k-drama specials do) without the production values of network shows.

As someone who loves long immersive dramas (why hello 60 episode sagueks!) I've generally stayed away from web dramas, but I do get the sense they've opened up space to tell stories, especially LGBTQ+ stories, that "mainstream" networks are still hesitant to touch. I hope the success and popularity of queer storytelling in these shorter forms will make it easier to tell these stories in longer, bigger budget forms as well.

The first web-drama I watched was High-end crush and it was absolutely hilarious. Time well spent. But my favorites are Scripting Your Destiny and Splash Splash Love. No time for fillers, more complex than a movie with more time getting to know the characters. Short episodes which is really useful when having small children. Instead of pausing a single episode a couple of times, 15-30 minutes are an easy investment. Nuff said. I love the format.

I've seen only a handful, but one that really stood out to me was XX, starring Hani. I enjoyed it a lot.

Web dramas are a useful genre on their own, filling several important purposes.

First, they can be used as a sort of training ground for new talent, a lower cost means of providing valuable experience. That in turn leads to more talented people receiving a chance to develop as actors- and that in turn benefits everyone as the total pool of talent increases.

But the other advantage is that a web drama is much more flexible in terms of episode length and number. Think of how many 16 episode dramas either should have been longer or shorter- like the fabulous BECAUSE THIS IS MY FIRST LIFE which should have ended at episode 14- the final two episodes actually diminished the show. In contrast, NOBLE MY LOVE was originally done as 20 20 minute long episodes- or about 400 total minutes- Too short to be even a standard eight episode show- but the perfect length for its story, and it remains one of my favorite romcoms. Broadcast dramas simply cannot have this flexibility because of the needs of the broadcasters.

With so many viewers streaming shows rather than tuning in at a set time the web drama is an economically viable alternative to broadcast shows. True, some of them crash and burn but this can happen to a broadcast show as well (think FOREST).

I like the Dingo series on YouTube, each episode is like 8 minutes long but they tell a different story with the same actors. I also enjoyed watching Ateen, Twenty Twenty, Peng, Ending Again, The moment the heart shines, Convenience store fling, Be my boyfriend, Failing in love… There's a bunch more. Most of them you can find on Youtube.

I'm always amazed at how much story web dramas can fit in 10- to 25-minute episodes. They're also very bite-sized and easy to binge when you want to watch something but don't have the time or energy to devote 14+ hours to a show.

Some of my favorites are Splash Splash Love (cried like a baby), Pop-Out Boy (laughed so hard at the references to dramas in the 00s and 10s), and Blue Birthday (not as tightly written as Nine, but still good in its own right). I've also enjoyed The Temperature of Language: Our Nineteen, Be My Boyfriend, Best Mistake, Revenge Note, Live On, and Love Revolution.

Web dramas are some favorites of mine. Splish splash love was my favorite, but Wednesday 3:30, to, Jenny, and several BL’s have also been excellent. To My Star 1-2 and Where your eyes linger are BL’s that the actors had better chemistry than many, many full episode dramas. When I had Covid, I couldn’t concentrate for more than 10-20 minutes at a time, so these were perfect for my short attention span and fatigue. That and they were easily bingeable because of how short they are. I also like to watch them between currently airing dramas as well, to fill the void. I rarely watch full dramas again, but I’ve watched several web dramas yearly and repeatedly. I love them.

I actually love web dramas. The concise format forces the production team to be very economical with their storytelling. Not all of them deliver on this count, but when they do, they can pack a punch.

Fresh faces may result in slightly green acting, but with strong directing, I find that there can be a sincerity to the actors' deliveries.

Playlist Studio's earlier works are a great example of these strengths (Seventeen, all seasons of Love Playlist). You slip quickly into the characters' lives and emotional worlds; there's no draggy exposition. You also get to see the same events from multiple perspectives, and the rookie cast was wonderful.

When I need some rush of emotion, I still comeback to Season 4 of Love Playlist a lot like a LOT. Idk WHAT about it but it is just sooo good. Also the Haneul x Jimin storyline just OWNS me (well... Sadly for Kim Saeron.......)

I just excited for this topic so I can discover more excellent web dramas.

The Lover.

Just Oh Jeong Se and Ryu Hyun Kyung's characters being the best couple in kdrama history.

So I'm not the biggest fan of web dramas but like DaebakGrits said, they have their benefits. Some of my "little pearls" have been web dramas, this including the one to four episodes short dramas that KBS releases yearly.

Some of my favorite web dramas are:

Go Ho’s Starry Night - I really loved this pairing and the pettiness and laughter in the story. I also loved the simplicity of the main character, she's such a vibe.

XX - this drama introduced me to Hani's acting and the beautiful Bae In Hyuk.

Sweet Revenge (S1) - I loved this! Such a cute story ☺️

You Drive Me Crazy - what can I say? This has become my palate cleanser drama. That's right, we are in love now 🥺