A Short History Of the K-Drama Industry Before Netflix

In this episode, we talk about how K-dramas became a highly profitable export long before the entry of streaming platforms in the mid 2010s. This is a story of a nation's economic crisis, the creation of a unique opportunity, and a two decade long struggle for air wave supremacy in East Asia.

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TIMELINE OF DRAMAS MENTIONED:

1997 IMF crisis

1997 What is love all about (NBC)

2000 Autumn In My Heart (KBS)

2002 Winter Sonata (KBS)

2007 The Legend (MBC)

2013 My Love From the Star (SBS)

2016 Descendants of the Sun (KBS)

2016 Signal (tvN)

2016 Hwayugi (Korean Odyssey) (tvN)

2016 THAAD missile crisis/China bans K-ent

LINKS MENTIONED:

CedarBough Saeji's twitter thread on why South Korean academics rarely contribute to international journals.

Living document of sources here.

LIGHT READING 😌:

Korean Dramas Adopt Pre-Produced Format to Mixed Results (article)

The Reason SBS Missed Out on "Descendants of the Sun" and "Signal" (article)

Romantic blockbusters: the co-commissioning of Korean network-developed K-dramas as ‘Netflix originals’ (journal)

TIMESTAMP:

04:41 - How Kdramas came into existence

11:18 - How dramas used to be made

21:54 - Start of the digital age and entry of iQiyi

27:40 - Dramas begin to get expensive

31:32 - Watershed: Descendants of the Sun

34:40 - China bans Korean entertainment over THAAD

36:51 - Economics of terrestrial vs cable channels

47:12 - Netflix knocks (cliffhanger)

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MORE EPISODES YOU'LL LIKE:

Episode 170: A Long Yak on Doctor Slump, Marry My Husband, and Like Flowers In Sand

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CREDITS:

This episode was produced and edited by Paroma