The season of survival shows

 This last quarter for 2024 is packed, packed with survival shows, or audition shows for mnet. Seeing my favorite group being shipped off into 2 of them, I was surprised to look into how many “svv” are actually planed or started recently :

– Time Turner (november 2024)

– Project 7 (october 2024)

– Starlight Boys (october 2424)

– Universe League (november 2024)

– Road to Kingdom 2 (september 2024)

– Re:Born(september 2024)

– SCOOL(september 2024)

– Be My Boyz (tbh)

And maybe I’m missing some…

What is happening ? I went into thinking, looked into previous survival shows and I felt like sharing with you my view on why do we have so many of these shows instead of simple talk shows with idols from different groups. You know, something we used to have back in the days…

Spoiler : It’s about money

1. Brief history about Survival shows

Let’s go back to a few years ago… Actually, more than a decade

• 2008 JYPE launched HOT BLOODED MEN, a documentary about trainees from the agency. Viewers voting was involved but not too important in selecting members for the end groups ( 2PM and 2AM)
• 2012, MyDOL is broadcasted by MNET and with fan voting create the group VIXX.
• 2013, YG started a survival show called WIN: WHO IS NEXT? 2 teams fighting (A and B) for the top spot Forming the group WINNER and then through MIX & MATCH, B team becoming IKON.
• 2014, NO.MERCY start through STARSHIP and MNET collaboration and create the group MONSTA X
• 2015 JYPE launched a tv show called SIXTEEN with MNET help, the goal being to select trainees to become their newest girlgroup. The result ended up famously as TWICE.
• 2016 MNET launch Produce 101 alone.

A few shows came into light but never to create a group. Superstar K1, Kpop star, etc. between 2008 and 2012

I consider 2016 a turning point, and I mainly look at Produce 101 as it’s the first inter-agency show and with an important number of participants : 100 girls trainees.

→ You can look into this page that helped me and gather a good amount of shows https://www.reddit.com/r/kpopthoughts/comments/1dlcqna/my_thoughts_on_and_a_timeline_of_the_notable/

Produce 101 got a 4% viewer rating according to Nielsen which is quite high today (but I will talk about that more later). If We try to compare to a show in the following year such as MIXNINE, the highest rating was 2,1%

The show was popular and got one of the most iconic signal songs from survival shows. The end group, IOI, got a 1 year activity contract and ended up as a quite popular name!

With this success, MNET quickly started the production of a second season, which is still today the most beloved and popular season of the Produce series. This time 100 male trainees come forward in hope to debut. The viewing rating on the last episode is the highest with 6,4% nationwide. The final group, WANNA ONE, will be one of the most popular boygroup. The popularity of WANNA ONE allowed them (with agreement of all involved agencies) to have a longer activity period than planned. They also were on top of popularity ranking even getting a cute surname Ex-Bang-Wan ( EXO, BTS, WANNA ONE). The name was household famous, which is something much harder to obtain nowadays especially for boy groups these days.

After 2 more seasons, MNET will be under investigation for vote manipulation. The trial end up showing MNET wrongdoing : mistreatment of trainees, manipulations of ranking without the knowledge of the involved trainees, undercover agreement with agencies, etc. The result will be an insincere apology from the TV channel and a vow to never hold survival shows again.

And Thus I-LAND started, and then Girl Planet 999, and then Boy Planet and so on. But It’s not survival shows, it’s AUDITION SHOWS. The name is different but it’s still Produce 101 series based.

2. The impact of survival shows

It is worth mentioning that MNET got themselves a good amount of experience for holding such shows ever since the 10’s. And with the success of IOI, Wanna One and izone, other TV channels wanted their own show too.

• KBS (The Unit)
• SBS (Universe Ticket)
• MBC (Wild Idol, UNDER NINETEEN, My Teenage Girl)
• JTBC (Peak Time, Project 7)

To mention a few…

Imagine a tv show that can bring you money and then a debut so popular you get your own wanna one and you pretty much get easy money !

And it’s no problem if the show doesn’t do good numbers or the group doesn’t get enough fame. The usual contract is rather short (1 year or 2). You can rely on this damage control easily.

In fact the format is so popular the concept was developed for : rap, dance and even trot. Mind you, the trot version is insanely popular : 32% of viewer rating for Miss Trot. Insane.

Speaking of ratings, I mentioned the rate of many shows without really explaining, for example, why Produce series got themselves a declining rate but their group is still popular.

If we take Boys Planet, the highest rating nationwide was 1,2%. This is explained by the main provider of these numbers : Nielsen.

Nielsen only calculates what is broadcasted on TV, not counting the viewership on the internet. Case closed.

Survival shows provide a way to gain money for TV channels. For the shows featuring male trainees, I’m pretty sure some broadcasting TV even see an opportunity to get a new WANNA ONE as no one other group were able in the last few years to be a sensation as they were. It is indeed clear that nowadays GirlGroups are more likely to be household names (NewJeans, AESPA, to name a few).

The stakes are not that high as I explained with the damage control but the possible results could be really interesting.

It is also worth mentioning that these shows gather or create the most important fans : solos. Even if it’s not quite fun to have along as a fan myself, this category do spend a lot of money and are pretty loyal once being a core fan. In light of recent events we can say these fans are also quite the danger.

3. The beautiful days of neverending SVV

I remember that Boys Planet, at first, asked for auditions of independent trainees and undebuted trainees. Surely to debut a group not bound by agency contract and have a permanent cash cow. Unfortunately, the number of participants wasn’t enough and they then ended up allowing debuted idols to fill the ranks.

And it worked.

Back then during Produce S2, Nues’t was the talk of the town for participating as they wanted to escape a gloomy future (indefinite activities in Japan followed by a disbandment notice). It was surprising as they were known but also because it was among the first doing this. As the SVV became more and more frequent in South Korean media, we saw more and more groups entering as participants, willing to save their career.

Careful the following paragraph is a reflection based on obvious facts, bear with me.

KPOP became a huge topic internationally thanks to BTS and companies targeting the US market. The last few years some groups, even if not known in their own country, were able to survive thanks to international fans support. Add survival shows giving a great push to get a good fanbase right on your debut and you end up with a huge amount of debut per year.

Add into the mix, HYBE with 12 groups (and some soloists), SM with 13 groups (and soloists), JYPE with 10 groups (or so + soloists), YG with 6 grousp (+ soloists)  and you get a super competitive area. For the oldest KPOP enthusiast here, you might remember when we had some many reality shows and talk shows on TV. Well now these are fewer than ever and small groups have to “share” the little resources they have with bigger agency’s groups. The global KPOP content section is quite packed by the bigger groups, whom have the money to have regular shows and platforms for promotion. Making smaller groups (middle and small size companies) rarely being invited, appearing, participating and most importantly getting the money.

We won’t cover this but releasing an album is expensive, really expensive. Getting music show wins allow new sponsors to enter the ground and help future releases and get more opportunities.

To summarize, it’s harder than ever for non Big 4 groups to make it.

So what is left ? Survival Shows.

SVV is an easy, and FREE way for an idol to launch or re-launch a career. Whether it’s for their group or themselves, the effects can be amazing. Some agency will also be the one asking the idols to go. And for me that is why more and more debuted groups go to these shows.

4.We are slaves

Is it still a good way ? … Yes. A simple music show win can be the winning moment.

We can comment on MNET offering a spot at KCON for any winning group at RTK2. Quite lame if you look into the participating groups that already got invitations at the festival. These groups don’t want the prize, they want the fame that comes along with the show.

Any TV channel wants to catch the opportunity and the amount of trainees who can enter is never ending. The unbalanced chances to get famous is fueling these shows and people happily comply with it.

When some do enjoy these shows for the drama or the thrill of falling for a new idol, some are rather worried about it.

It’s nothing new that the contestants go through a tough time emotionally and physically. The mental pressure is high and is beneficial to get these emotional sequences but also these drama moments.

Anyone can remember that famous unaired scene where Jeon Somi yelled at someone. And these can go viral easily and quickly. It sets the viewer’s opinion about a trainee. As more of these shows appear and go against MNET, who is famous for creating drama.

And the trainees are equally slaves to the broadcaster : yearning for that screentime and a good storyline.

As a viewer we are slaves to a good storyline, exciting content, never ending stimulation from the show editing whether it’s about a touching moment or a dramatic one.

It’s most likely lacking but, I hope everyone had fun reading this

sources : 

– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nielsen_Media_Research

– http://www.nielsenkorea.co.kr/tv_terrestrial_day.asp?menu=Tit_1&sub_menu=3_2&area=00&begin_date=201705

– https://search.daum.net/search?w=tv&q=%ED%94%84%EB%A1%9C%EB%93%80%EC%8A%A4%20101%20%EC%8B%9C%EC%B2%AD%EB%A5%A0&irt=tv-program&irk=71188&DA=TVP