Korean traditional content (TV show ratings) are being eroded by a dramatic shift in viewing habits and a trend that young people want to create their own entertainment.

Youtube influencers are the ones that started it all. It is estimated that 7 out of 10 South Koreans would want to make a living being a YouTuber. A vast majority of this group is in their 20s or 30s. A recent survey shows that 7/10 of millennials in Korea want to supplement their income by creating content on social media platforms like YouTube and Instagram, even if it generates a mere $1k/month.

Current popular channels which make millions of dollars annually:

Boram, pre teen, 30M subscribers, toy channel
JFla Music, Kim Jung-wha, 18M subscribers, cover song channel
With Kids, 16M subscribers, toy channel
TwinTOOZI, 10.5M subscribers, kids entertainment,

BLACKPINK, IVE, Bigband and other K-pop artists have channels for their MVs generate more than a billion annual views. SM Nation recorded more than 25 billion artist views in 2022.

Most watched South Korean Twitch streamers:

Handongsun 5.6 million viewer hours, 24k avg viewers
Woowagood 3.8 million viewer hours 20 k avg viewers
Hanryang1125 3.5 million viewer hours 14k avg viewers
4 tmxk319 1.4 million viewer hours

There is only 8760 hours in a year.

Most followers:
Faker 3.8 M
LCK League of Legends 1.4M
Woowagood 928k
tmxk319 823k

It is all about building a brand, creating a subscription base of followers and putting out content from toy unboxing reviews, to game streams, to mukbang shows that can easily viewed on one's phone. This is hard competition for traditional television networks.

The end of the year is here and I'm still bummed there's nowhere to talk about Mouse (this is an older drama but I watched it this year) or Weak Hero Class 1 (I wonder if it's getting a season 2)

Happy New Year🥳

It’s been an absolute joy to be part of the beanie community for the last 7 months and I wish you all a happy and healthy 2023. Thank you to all the weecapers who have shared our ups and downs. Thanks to all the community members old and new who have helped create this welcoming friendly space. Thanks for the recommendations of older dramas that have brought me joy, I have joined the fan club and now I promote them too.
I am so grateful that because of this community I get to meet other beanies on Zoom to discuss these dramas.

I am really looking forward to the first Watch and Discuss Korean Drama club for 2023. We will be discussing the themes of found family; across age, class and gender and creative ways to regain power and control.

Drama: The Avengers Social club/ Baum-dong Avengers
Time: 07:00 PM London on 3rd January 2023
Venue: Zoom

If you are free and want to join us see my post for contact details.

My overwhelming thanks to the Dramabeans staff and minions for really revving up the site this year. Your hard work is seen and appreciated. And happy waves 🙋🏼‍♀️ to all the Beanies, new and old, who continue to make it a fun and informative, welcoming place to be.
A Happy New Year is wished to all, along with reaaalllly good kdramas 🤭🎉🎉🎉

Am I the only one who didn’t know that The Forbidden Marriage is not on this week due to an awards show?

I spent almost all this month watching more Korean dating shows than Korean dramas, so my beanie count didn't improve that much. But maybe those shows should count? They're literally like dramas, only that the love triangles are more interesting since they don't make the "other girl" a "mean girl" or the other guy totally annoying. You just want everyone to be happy.

Anyway, I wonder if I'll be able to binge-watch one or two shows before the year ends. I'm thinking of watching beanies last recommendations. But I don't know if I should go heavy (King of Pigs and Weak Hero) or lighter (Never Give Up and Love All Play) or 50/50 (King of Pigs and Never Give Up).
Or if I should go with something no one watched like Dr Parks Clinic or Stock Stuck, because I'm really curious about those. The problem is that they could be bad. 🤔

...This is the last OT of the year. WOW.
Beanies, I hope you had a nice (or at least decent) year. And I wish next year brings you more of everything you want and need. I hope 2023 is a good year for all of you and I hope to see you here again. Thank you for being beanies! this community is really special so I hope it stays strong for a really long time.
Love you all. 💚 Have a happy 2023!

Bless Friday everyone and Happy New Year.
Thank you for your hardwork, DBstaff and all awesome Beanies here on your eloquent insight for each dramapost.

P/S: anywho here have a great list of OST this year drama? Apart from Child (by Elaine) and all of OST LBFaD?

I am getting a kick out of Unlock My Boss. The actors are all so good in their roles and even the dumb humor makes me laugh cause of them! the leads are doing a great job. The only thing I wish we could have is to see Park Sung-Woong but his role calls for his voice over his face. Park Jong-Hyeop is a natural in this. Its very light and enjoyable. Also, Kim Sung Oh is doing a great job in being a "good" baddie instead of a "bad" baddie. The child actress is so cute.

Question: I know South Korea has a culture of drinking but what are people who are alcoholics, have medical issues, or who just don't like drinking supposed to do? Do they just ostracized for not drinking?

Briefly stopping by the OT to wish all the Beanies and everyone at the Dramabeans staff a Happy New Year!

Wishing you all the best in 2023!

This was the first year where I watched the shows in real time and was able to engage with other people about it. In the past, I’ve just watched shows and moved on, never really thinking about it once I finished it or even while I was watching it but because I joined the DramaBeans community, it’s made watching the shows a little more engaging for me. I find myself looking forward to the weecaps and comments as much as I look forward to the episodes themselves. Sometimes comments were even more entertaining than that week's episodes. I felt validation when other people agreed with or liked my thoughts and I was intrigued when other’s opinions were contrary to my own. It was nice to see contrasting opinions that didn’t make me feel like I was being personally attacked for thinking or feeling differently about something. Sometimes I couldn’t even find the words to share what I thought about shows because others were so eloquent and insightful that I was just awed by what I read. I have such an appreciation for the recappers and reviewers of DramaBeans who consistently put out timely updates even though sometimes they lost interest or didn’t feel as engaged in the drama. Though I miss the days of full recaps, seeing the creative and attention grabbing ways the weecaps were written was enough to tell me all I needed to know of drama; it’s almost like reading a book in that the weecap kinda activates my imagination haha. This year, I think I've watched the most Kdramas in one year to the point I even started learning some of the actors’ names or recognizing them from/in other projects haha.

A special thanks goes to @reply1988 for always making me feel so seen haha
I think our thoughts are often different but they always engage with me and make me feel included.

Happy New Year to everyone😊

spending the last day of the year with gratitude.
2022 went by fast.
May 2023 bring all the good things for the beanies.

Hello DB staff and my favorite Beans!

We’ll be celebrating NY in roughly 5 hours.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all DB staff and Beans for making this site a safe space. It’s been the place where I visit almost everyday because it feels safe and warm. I’d like to thank the staff for putting in a lot of effort to make this space livelier and more engaging. This isn’t an easy task at all to keep the site running with engaging contents almost everyday when there are SO MANY streaming services and so many dramas being produced. It isn’t as easy as in the old days when people normally watched/had access to the same dramas. So kudos to all involved. Your effort didn’t go unnoticed, and I’ve waited to thank all of you today as it’s the last day of this year. You all should be proud. You’ve done a great job in the past year. 🙂

Dear favorite Beans who helped make this place one of the most welcoming places in earth, thank you xox. I’ve learnt so much about your cultures, your views, each one of you, and myself by being in this forum. I learnt that with respect of differences, everyone can share and have fun together in the same space. We have different opinions, come from different places and are of different ages and with different experiences, but these things helped me grow up as a person. I love that differences bring people up instead of bringing them or some of them down.

So cheers to this space, everyone, myself, and the new year to come. Let’s hope we have a lot of fun (dramas and all) again in the coming year! 🥂