Olympic Broadcasts Shock With 0% Rating, Jang Na-ra’s Drama Is The Biggest Victim?

During the Olympics season, the three terrestrial broadcasters KBS, SBS and MBC have canceled all their dramas and entertainment programs to air sports broadcasts in real-time. The fact that this year’s Olympics competitions mostly took place at midnight or early in the morning due to the 8-hour time difference between France and Korea caused concerns to broadcasters. Such worries became a reality from the opening ceremony. All three terrestrial broadcasters spent a lot of money to secure the rights to air the event live but the ratings were disappointing. KBS recorded 1.4%, MBC showed 1.0% and SBS only reached 0.6%. 

Knowing that the ratings would be low as the opening ceremony took place at 2 a.m. in Korean time, the 0% rating was considered quite shocking. As the Korean soccer team couldn’t make it to the Olympics stage due to the unexpected elimination in the preliminary round and baseball was excluded from the Paris Olympics, the public interest in the sports event also dropped significantly, resulting in low viewership. 

Moreover, the shift in viewers’ method of watching from TV to online platforms is also a reason for the low ratings. Among OTT services, only Wavve secured broadcasting rights to the Olympics and has been offering both live broadcasts and sports content such as highlight videos. Early on the morning of July 29th, when the women’s archery final was held, the number of simultaneous access to live channels, including KBS1, KBS2, MBC, and SBS, provided by Wavve increased by 5.2 times compared to the figure in June.

In the case of the drama industry, many are worried that the upward trend in popularity of some dramas may be disrupted due to the three-week broadcast suspension for the Olympics. In particular, SBS’s “Good Partner” is considered the biggest victim.

“Good Partner” is a legal office drama about Cha Eun-kyung (Jang Na-ra), a star lawyer specializing in divorce cases, and Han Yu-ri (Nam Ji-hyun), a new lawyer taking on her first divorce case. With Jang Na-ra making a terrestrial drama comeback after three years, the lineup of actors with excellent acting, such as Nam Ji-hyun, Kim Jun-han and P.O., as well as the solid storyline, “Good Partner” soared to 13.7% after releasing four episodes. The drama has been suspended after airing episode 5 due to the Paris Olympics.

In the case of variety shows, continuity is not too important, so long breaks do not disrupt the flow or cause a big drop in viewers. However, it is different for dramas as they have clear beginnings, developments, climaxes, and conclusions. Word-of-mouth and momentum can determine the success or failure of a drama.

Attention is focused on whether Jang Na-ra’s drama “Good Partner” will be able to record 20% ratings even after being canceled for three weeks due to the Olympics.