Korean web dramas vs K-dramas

Web dramas have risen in popularity, appealing to today’s adoration of short form content. But could the format’s success be the death knell for lengthy Korean dramas?

Our Dating Sim (2023) is a popular BL web drama series. Image credit: Promotional poster from Viki.

Audience attention spans for dramas are depleting. Nearly half (49%) of the general British public feel their attention span has continued to deplete in recent years, according to a study by the Policy Institute and Centre for Attention Studies at King’s College London. So what does this mean for the future of K-drama series containing 16 one-hour episodes? Will audiences soon be tuning out in favour of shorter content?

Netflix doesn’t seem to think so, having just pledged to invest $2.5 billion in K-dramas over the next four years. But considering our lessening attention spans, perhaps streaming platforms should be considering investments in short-form web dramas instead.

The short form alternative to lengthy K-dramas

So firstly, what are web dramas? Web dramas are TV shows with episodes that last from 12-30 minutes. They have lower budgets than K-dramas, so there is a significant lack of casting. Most actors and actresses involved are often debuting in their acting career.

Web dramas have particularly risen in popularity for their takes on uncovered topics in mainstream media including same-sex romances (known as Boy Love or BL for short), as well as idol endorsements. But it’s their shorter episode run-time that has appealed to our need for short-form content.

The popularity of short-form content is not surprising. Social Media, more specifically TikTok and Instagram, has adapted to audience appetites by making videos as short as 15-second videos. In response, many users extract clips from K-dramas converting hour-long episodes to second-long snippets.

The many video posts from Crash Course in Romance (2023) practically broke the internet. Especially the scene where Nam Hae-yi (played by Roh Yoon-Seo) is saved from falling down the stairs by Seo Geon-hu (played by Lee Min-jae) from the hockey team doing a high kick. It humorously contrasted the ‘gentleman’ cliche of a man catching a woman in his arms, boosting its online shareability.

Light On Me also gained popularity with web drama fans back in 2021. Image Credit: Promotional Poster from WhyNot.

Providing the narratives that K-dramas haven’t

Web dramas have become a symbol of change for the LGBTQ+ community, particularly when it comes to BL series’s. BL, a web drama genre that usually centers around a romance between two male characters, has provided viewers with story lines that mainstream K-dramas rarely do.

In Korea, mainstream dramas have typically fallen behind in featuring LGBTQ+ plots, despite other Asian countries, such as Thailand, Taiwan, and Japan, choosing to do so for a long time now.

However, Korean web dramas have caught onto the trend and have made many popular BL dramas, such as Light on Me (2021) and Our Dating Sim (2023). The interest in these online series has only encouraged more LGBTQ+ content in this space, which has begun to spill out into the mainstream.

For example, Shin Ye-Eun gained popularity through the web drama A-Teen (2018), opening the gateway for opportunities in dramas such as The Glory (2022) and He is Psychometric (2019) with GOT-7’s Jinyoung.

Shin Ye-Eun’s success in web dramas gave him an array of acting opportunities include a role in He is Psychometric (2019). Image credit: Promotional poster from Viki.

Gaining idol endorsement

Web dramas have secured a firm base of viewers over the years through the endorsement of K-pop idols, and consequently their fan bases. Not only has it provided an opportunity for idols to expand their acting experience, but it’s ensured a certain level of guaranteed viewership. 

For example, in 2015, GOT-7 starred in their very own dedicated web drama: Dream Knight (2015-16). Meanwhile, April’s Lee Na-eun featured in A-Teen (2018).

Web dramas are, of course, popular for a multitude of reasons, including their easy-to-digest short-form style and the narratives they explore. However, there’s no doubt K-pop idol endorsement has also played a hand in elevating it’s consumption further.

Idol Lee Na-eun starred in A-Teen as she began developing her acting career. Image credit: Promotional poster from Playlist.

High turnaround of producing web dramas

Low-budget dramas have made it easy for Korean Production companies to have a high turnaround of content. Audience is never out of pocket when it comes to web-dramas, as it takes less time to produce them. 

Many web dramas are adapted from webtoons, which come with a pre-existing audience backing. Webtoons are an evolving comic platform that’s designed to be easy to read from your mobile (take a brief glance on the subway in Seoul and you’ll notice most people glued to a webtoon on their phone). As two evolving platforms, web dramas and webtoons have often collaborated, promoting one another’s short-form content in the process. 

Are K-dramas evolving too? 

Although K-dramas are much longer than web dramas, they too are evolving as a result of the ever-changing K-drama fandom, audience consumption of short form content, and rising viewership in Western countries (propelled by investments from Netflix and Amazon Prime).

K-dramas have traditionally had an established formula: in episode 8, the female lead and male lead get together; in episode 11, they break up; and then in episode 16, they end up happily ever after. However, with Netflix and Amazon Prime's influence, there have been changes to the formula, including producing second and even third series (which is not typically done in K-dramas). 

So, have these new formulas been a success? The short answer is mostly yes. As you may have seen, The Alchemy of Souls (2022) was an absolute hit with Lee Jae-uk's phenomenal acting and strong storytelling. Like many of the other Netflix original K-Dramas, they made a second series which was such a hit that fans now anticipate a third series.

What lies ahead in the K-drama vs web drama war?

The interest in web dramas has put pressure on K-dramas to adapt their content quality and tried-and-tested formula to appeal to audiences they’re not currently reaching. For K-dramas which have long been bolstered with big brand funding, making these changes will not necessarily be an issue.

The web dramas vs K-dramas dynamic will likely continue, with streaming platforms like Netflix plowing funds into K-dramas while Viki Originals focuses on building a web dramas empire. If there’s anything to conclude from this, there will likely be an ever-lasting competition between K-dramas and web dramas. But one thing is for sure — as viewers we won’t be out of pocket when it comes to Korean entertainment.

Edited by Molly Raycraft.