The 20-part series reunited actors Ji Sung and Hwang Jung-eum, who previously starred together in the 2013 hit Secret Love. He is treated secretly by psychiatrist Oh Ri-jin who (surprise surprise) falls in love with him. Eventually this causes his personality to fracture into seven different identities. Kill Me Heal Me: An MBC drama that aired from January to March, Kill Me Heal Me is about a third-generation chaebol (corporation boss) who has memory lapses due to a traumatic childhood experience. It was named Outstanding Korean Drama at the 10th Seoul International Drama Awards. It also sold to seven other Asian territories, the US and Israel. The show was sold for a record US$280,000 per episode to Chinese video-sharing website Youku Tudou, where it scored huge ratings. Echoing Sensory Couple, ratings grew throughout the run, starting at a 7.8% share and ending at 13.6%. The Pinocchio title refers to a girl who wants to be a journalist but has a syndrome that makes her hiccup when she lies (not great for a journalist). A 20-episode drama on SBS, it has a typically convoluted plotline based around a conflicted romance, a hidden identity and a young man’s desire for revenge. Pinocchio: Pinocchio started airing in late 2014, running through to January 2015. Last week, Singapore-based distributor Bomanbridge Media acquired the Mongolian rights. It has been sold to channels in Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Cambodia. The show, which aired in April and May, started with a modest 5-6% share but steadily rose to 12% by the end of its 16-episode run. She wakes up from a coma six months later to discover that she has lost her memory – but has developed the ability to ‘see’ smells.
Broadcast by SBS, it has an elaborate plot that centres on a woman who sees her parents being murdered by a serial killer but is then hit by a car as she escapes from the killer. Sensory Couple: Also known as The Girl Who Sees Smells, Sensory Couple is a suspense/comedy/romance hybrid adapted from a webtoon of the same name. The programme has been nominated for a number of Korean Drama Awards, but it didn’t escape criticism, with some entertainment insiders complaining of an inaccurate portrayal of the relationship between producers and celebrities. Underlining the show’s appeal, China’s online network Sohu paid US$2.4m for rights to The Producers. The show, which stars the highly bankable Kim Soo-hyun, has already been sold to broadcasters and platforms in China, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Kazakhstan, while digital streaming rights have also been licensed to parts of Europe, the Middle East and North America. Popular in Korea, it tells the story of a group of young producers working in the variety department of – wait for it – KBS. The Producers: Broadcast by KBS, this 12-part series aired on Friday and Saturday evenings in May and June. Consolidated data for the first half of 2015 puts the following shows out in front.
Released on a monthly basis, the CPI attempts to measure fan interest in a series – using factors such the number of articles written about a show, internet search popularity and activity on discussion boards to determine which shows are most popular.
Wildly popular across Asia, Korean scripted shows have also recently started to be picked up as formats in the US, with examples including Good Doctor, Nine: Nine Times Time Travel, Answer Me 1994 and My Love From Another Star.įor anyone interested in knowing the hot Korean shows to look out for, there is a handy tool known as the Contents Power Index (CPI).
International TV market Mipcom starts in a couple of weeks’ time and one of the hottest forms of content at the event will be Korean drama.