Parrot Analytics Genre Trend reports reveal which genres and subgenres appealed to a market's audiences the most during the quarter.

The key questions investigated in this report include:

1. Which genres are most in-demand for South Korean audiences this quarter?

2. How do genre trends in South Korea compare to global trends for the quarter?

3. Which subgenres are most in-demand for South Korean audiences this quarter?

4. For only digital original series, what genres are most demanded by South Korean audiences this quarter and how is this different to the overall shares?

For all titles, which genres are South Korean audiences demanding most?

• In South Korea, drama content holds the largest share of all TV series with 45.2% of all demand. The most in-demand Korean drama in this period is tvN’s Wise Doctor Life.

• In most global markets, comedy is the second largest genre. However, in South Korea, the second largest genre is reality which has a 13.5% demand share. Comedy is third with a share of 9.8%. The most in-demand reality series is MBC’s Hangout With Yoo.

• Variety series account for 9.7% of all South Korean demand in these three months. The most in-demand variety title is SBS’s Running Man.

How do Genre Demand Shares in South Korea compare to global trends?

• In South Korea, variety television series have a much higher share of audience attention than the global average. Worldwide, the variety genre accounts for less than 3.6% of expressed demand. The Korean figure of 9.7% is an increase in share of +6.1%.

• Reality series overperform amongst Korean audiences almost as much. Compared to the global share, demand is +4.1% higher in South Korea.

• However, audience attention is significantly lower in this market for the comedy genre, which has a -5.9% demand share against the global average. Action and adventure and children’s series also have smaller shares of the Korean market.

For all titles, which subgenres are South Korean audiences demanding most?

• The romantic drama subgenre is a clear favorite for South Korean audiences, accounting for 7.0% of all expressed demand in the market for these three months. The subgenre is ranked much higher here than it is worldwide where it is the 10th largest subgenre.

• The crime drama subgenre is the second largest in South Korea with a 6.3% demand share. While in rank this is only one place below crime drama’s global ranking of 1st, by share it is -3.5% from the global share of 9.8%.

• Music variety is the 7th largest subgenre in South Korea. This subgenre is a point of difference for the market as it is not in global top 10 subgenres. The same applies to family drama in 9th.

• The globally in-demand subgenres of superhero series and comedy dramas do not appear in these ten largest South Korean subgenres.

For digital original titles, which genres are South Korean audiences demanding most?

• In the South Korean digital original market, drama series are more important than in the market overall. Original dramas from streaming services account for 54.3% of digital original demand. This is +9.1% from the overall market share of 45.2%. Netflix’s Black Mirror is the most in-demand digital original drama series over these three months.

• While action and adventure is the 7th largest genre overall, it is the 2nd largest for digital originals with +12.0% more demand share. This makes it a key point of difference for streaming services in the market, and possibly indicates Korean linear networks are not meeting demand for this genre.

• Conversely, streaming services are not meeting the high South Korean audience demand for reality and variety series. Both genres have much smaller shares of the digital original market, with the share for reality series down by -11.8% and variety by -8.7%.

This report is intended as a high-level overview of genre trends in this market. To access more granular genre demand trends for specific platforms, types of titles, timeframes and more, please contact your Parrot Analytics representative.