Despite the mixed joys and sorrows, the status of K-content was solid. K-movies, which were hit the hardest since the COVID-19 incident, held out hope by releasing two 10 million-viewer films this year, and K-dramas, which achieved globalization through global OTT, succeeded in solidifying their position more firmly with ‘K-romantic comedy’ as their weapon. K-pop has expanded its influence beyond Asia, North America, and now even to Europe and South America, firmly establishing itself as a ‘genre’. We looked into the K-content that received love from people all over the world this year, categorized into movies, TV dramas, and K-pop.

The year 2024 was a year of ‘K-romance’ on home theaters. Unlike dramas of various genres that enjoyed even popularity, this year in particular, romance dramas dyed the hearts of viewers at home and abroad pink.

The most talked-about dramas were ‘Queen of Tears’ starring Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Ji-won and ‘Sunjae Piggyback Ride’ starring Byun Woo-seok and Kim Hye-yoon. The two dramas have properly demonstrated the power of ‘K-romance’, dominating not only viewer ratings but also all topics. In the ‘2024 Year-End Search Term Settlement’ recently compiled by Naver using mobile and PC search data, these works also took 1st and 2nd place.

The drama, which depicts the love story of Hong Hae-in, a department store president and third-generation chaebol, and Baek Hyun-woo, the son of the village chief, has garnered explosive popularity by summoning ‘live-watchers’ for the first time in a while by varying the ‘Cinderella and the Prince Charming’ cliché commonly seen in existing romance dramas. Thanks to this, it recorded the highest viewership ratings (24.9%) of all time for tvN dramas, and maintained the top spot as the most-watched content among Netflix non-English TV series for 7 consecutive weeks from the first week of broadcasting.

‘Seonjae Picks Up and Runs’, which aired right after ‘Queen of Tears’, also shook the world. It didn‘t feature a star actor who is considered a ‘guaranteed viewership ratings check’, nor was it written by a famous writer who had produced a series of hit dramas.

The viewership ratings were also below ‘average’ at 5%, but it overwhelmed everything with its popularity. The drama, which depicts the romance between top star Ryu Sun-jae, who unfortunately passes away, and Im Sol, who goes back in time to save him, has captivated not only women in their 20s and 30s, but also women in their 50s.

Recently, the American Time magazine selected ‘Sun-jae, the King of K-drama’ as the best K-drama aired this year (excluding unfinished series). Time said, “It didn’t have the largest budget or famous stars, but it had a well-written and excellent story.”.

On the other hand, unlike dramas, the TV entertainment industry was in a miserable state. The various entertainment programs ambitiously released by the three terrestrial broadcasters failed to achieve any notable results this year as well.

Amid the slump of both broadcasters, OTTs such as Netflix created an unexpected surprise by acquiring ‘entertainment’ as another surefire weapon in addition to dramas. Netflix‘s ‘Black and White Chef: Class War’ is a representative example, and it became the first Korean entertainment show to rank first in the global top 10 TV (non-English) for three consecutive weeks. This craze brought ‘Cookbang’ back into the spotlight, and various broadcasting stations released related programs one after another.


Reporter Lee Jeong-yeon annjoy@donga.com