Despite fierce controversy, “Snowdrop” is doing better.
JTBC’s Snowdrop, the first drama of BLACKPINK’s Jisoo as the female lead, co-starring actor Jung Hae In has been drawing much attention. However, since before its broadcast, Snowdrop has been embroiled in controversy and boycott from Korean viewers over historical distortion. Several brands have reportedly stopped sponsoring the drama. The cast and crew, along with fans of Snowdrop, also received heartbreaking news recently as an actress on the show unexpectedly passed away. Going through a tough time, but Snowdrop has been witnessing positive achievements.
Snowdrop attracts fans with thrilling and suspenseful details. Set in 1987 during the Korean democracy movement, but the drama does not focus on the turbulence of history.
Instead, relationships between family members and the main couple’s loveline take over the screen time. The heartfelt “chemistry” between Jisoo and Jung Hae In makes viewers unable to take their eyes off the screen.
Amidst the peak of controversy over alleged distortion of Korean history, Snowdrop’s viewership ratings saw a sharp drop to less than 1%. Episode 4 recorded a rating of 1.68%, episode 6 was only 1.912%. However, in episode 7, Snowdrop’s ratings surprisingly skyrocketed to 3.3%.
This number is not high, but compared to the common ground of JTBC’s drama ratings, it is a positive achievement. Perhaps after the explanation of the producers, Korean viewers are seeing the drama in a new light.
2021 was a rather “flopped” year for JTBC when the ratings of its dramas were only around 1-3%. Snowdrop was expected to be a hit to revive the ratings for JTBC but unfortunately stumbled into controversy.
However, JContentree (the parent company of JTBC) in 9 trading days recorded consecutive financial growth numbers. Since Snowdrop went live, the total market value of the company has increased by 15% compared to the previous period.
Specifically, from December 16 to 21, the market value of JContentree decreased from 947.5 billion won to 837.5 billion won. Unexpectedly, this number quickly increased to 1.1 trillion won on January 4. Thus, the company’s market value has increased by more than 150 billion won compared to the time when Snowdrop was not broadcast.
Moreover, according to Flix Patrol – a global OTT (Over The Top) content ranking website, as of January 3, Jisoo and Jung Hae In’s drama has topped Disney Plus Korea’s top 10 TV shows chart.
Besides, Snowdrop also topped the charts in many other countries such as Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan. In Japan, it also excelled at number three. Despite facing a wave of boycotts in Korea, the drama of Jisoo and Jung Hae In is very famous internationally, bringing JTBC remarkable achievements.
As Snowdrop got into controversy, Jisoo and Jung Hae In also inevitably received criticism. However, the film is getting more and more love from the audience. Given what Snowdrop has achieved in the recent time, fans believe that it will be successful in 2022.
