In the place where the old pride of terrestrial broadcasters collapsed, the “substantial” turned on.
The unexpected reliever that led to the cardiopulmonary resuscitation of the small screen late at night on MBC Sunday in the fall of 2026, when even masterpieces that spent tens of billions of dollars on production were struggling with a drought of ratings.
According to viewer rating research company Nielsen Korea, the drama “Anna,” which was aired for the first time on TV on MBC on the 23rd, recorded a 5.2% audience rating nationwide.
사진 확대 Photo = Coupang Play
It is not just 5 per cent. MBC’s re-run of the Friday-Saturday drama “The Killer of Pregnant Women,” which was organized in the late night hours of Sunday, was only 1.9%, and even the ambitious Liberation Day special film “Noryang: Sea of Death,” left bitterly at 2.3%. However, Anna, who has already swept once in 2022, lightly crushed them above the double score, creating a miraculous ratings.
The spark saved by the short-form, a drastic transformation of the ‘people’s first love’
At the base of Anna’s ratings storm is a powerful algorithm for YouTube and short-form content. The brutal and beautiful story of Lee Yu-mi (and Anna), a woman who started to steal other people’s lives by lying a little, has been remade into numerous shorts videos and constantly talked about among young people since the end of the broadcast in 2022. In other words, the persistent popularity of OTT and short-form has exploded with terrestrial broadcasting ratings.
사진 확대 Photo = Coupang Play
Above all, Suzy’s overwhelming one-man show, which draws the play, mesmerized the public. It completely digested the three-dimensional emotional line that transforms from poor and tired Yumi to glamorous and arrogant Anna, removing the label of “people’s first love.” On top of that, the fierce acting ensemble of luxury supporting actors such as Jung Eun-chae as Hyun-joo, the daughter of a rich real family from birth, Kim Joon-han as her husband Ji-hoon, who pressures Anna with clear goals and ambitions, and warm helper Park Ye-young increase the immersion of the play.
What is more interesting is that this work is a controversial work in which director Lee Ju-young and Coupang Play had a fierce legal battle over the editorial rights of “Eight-part vs. Six-part” when it was released in 2022. Both the first and second trials ended with Coupang Play’s victory, but the drastic compilation of noisy works proves the reality of terrestrial broadcasters on the edge of the cliff and the heavy buzz of the work itself.
사진 확대 Photo = Coupang Play
“Verified Old Works instead of New Works”… bitter co-prosperity created by the production cost crisis
MBC’s organization of Anna is the most dramatic success story of the “OTT Synergy Model” put forward by broadcasters for survival.
Terrestrial broadcasters, unable to afford the soaring cost of producing dramas, have switched their strategies to supply and demand OTT original content that has already been proven to be complete and box office, instead of reducing new production.
MBC previously transformed the small screen into a ‘recycling window’ and a ‘win-win place’ for OTT masterpieces by introducing ‘Casino Season 2’ and ‘Mall of Killers’ in succession, starting with Disney+ ‘Moving’ in 2024.
사진 확대 Photo = Coupang Play
For broadcasters, it is a perfect win-win structure that reduces the burden of rising production costs and secures stable viewership, and OTT extends the vitality of the old work. However, this strange phenomenon, in which OTT works more than doubled four years ago than special films that cost tens of billions of dollars, clearly shows a bitter aspect of the K-content market in crisis of production costs. It remains to be seen interestingly how far the butterfly effect, which was launched by 5.2% of Anna, will break the boundaries between terrestrial and OTT.
[MK Sports Reporter Hong Donghee]