“Entourage” has ended as a commercial failure after a promising start. Failure of the drama raise the question of the benefit of pre-produced drama compared to live-shooting drama which has become the unending debate in the Korean drama industry..
“Entourage” Episode 16 ended with 0.736 percent in the AGB Nielsen Korea down from the 0.960 percent from previous episode, Korea Daily reported. The continuous slump of the drama ratings has begun since its second week of airing.
The failure of the drama has raised the question of the effectiveness of pre-produced drama compared to the live-shooting drama which commonly done in the Korean drama production. However, other pre-produced drama from tvN “Guardian/Goblin” which currently aired has reached a very high ratings for the cable channel drama, with more than 10 percent ratings.
Ratings for cable channel program is relatively around four times lower due to its lower penetration than the terrestrial program. Therefore, 10 percent ratings is an incredible perforrmance. Especially compared to ratings of “Entourage.”
The contrast of these two pre-produced dramas is interesting. Especially, according to Yonhap News Agency, pre-produced drama is aimed to enter the China’s market to air simultaneously.
However, current diplomatic tension between China and Korea has practically shutdown the market for Korean drama in China’s television. Therefore, pre-produced drama may not be good solution for the studio.
One major downside of the pre-produced drama is its inability to make necessary adjustment according to the viewers’ response. The other method is live-shooting which is selected to provide room for change in the production.
In live-shooting, fiming process of the drama is conducted according to airing schedule. Afterward, the production team will look into viewers response to the drama. Then story for the next episode will be adjusted according to viewers’ response.
Such room for change is not available for the pre-produced drama which has already ended its filming process. This is clearly visible in the “Entourage” which has been pre-produced before its airing. Watch the highlight of the final episode of the drama from tvN Drama channel below:
