Hello, this is UniqueGood's Experience Trend Letter. Do you subscribers enjoy variety shows? According to the 'Broadcasting Programs Koreans Love' survey conducted by Gallup Korea in March 2024, 6 out of the top 10 preferred content genres were variety shows, accounting for more than half.
We can truly say we're in the golden age of variety shows. The variety genre is expanding its reach beyond traditional 'reality variety' by combining with diverse genres such as sports variety, dating variety, and survival variety shows.
However, an interesting trend is emerging in these variety programs - there's an increasing tendency to encourage viewer participation. In this Experience Trend Letter, we'll explore cases of variety programs evolving from shows you simply watch to shows you actively participate in.
Becoming a cast member yourself: 'Treasure Hunt'
Tving's survival variety program 'Treasure Hunt' publicly recruited participants before airing. The production team released four clues pointing to specific locations in Seoul, and participants had to find key cards hidden in these locations. The teaser video revealing the clues garnered significant interest with 430,000 views, resulting in many applications.
According to the production team, 'All the key cards we prepared were exhausted much faster than expected.' During this event, which ran from July 25 to August 7, 2022, approximately 500 people applied to appear on the show. After the event ended, 24 people were selected through interviews with the production team, and it was completed as an 8-episode program.
Pass the test to prove you're a true fan: 'The Great Escape Season 2'
'The Great Escape' series brought the escape room cafe experience to a large-scale format. Before the launch of The Great Escape 2, they held a pre-opening viewer participation event. This event, conducted under the concept 'Find the 7th Member!', consisted of an online test that required reviewing previous seasons of The Great Escape and an offline test held at CGV Yongsan I'Park Mall.
This 7th member search event attracted 16,000 participants, recording the highest number of participants for any event held by tvN at the time. It also recorded 3,000 simultaneous app users, generating tremendous interest in the program.
Announce the comeback of a sequel after 2 years: 'Girls' High School Mystery Club 3'
Meanwhile, 'Girls' High School Mystery Club', which shares the same universe as The Great Escape, recently announced its comeback by releasing a short teaser video. True to the title 'Girls' High School Mystery Club', the teaser video contains hidden information that requires brainpower to decipher, and many people are already participating, building anticipation. This SNS video, released on March 22nd, has recorded approximately 15,000 likes and 1,200 comments as of the writing date.
Girls' High School Mystery Club 3 is scheduled to be released on Tving on April 26th, and there's a pre-event prepared for viewers. It's a pre-launch promotional event prepared jointly by Realworld and Tving called 'Girls' High School Mystery Club 3: Admission Test'.
You might wonder if this admission test has much connection to the main Girls' High School Mystery Club episodes. 'Girls' High School Mystery Club 3: Admission Test' is a mobile mission game created based on the universe of Tving's original Girls' High School Mystery Club. We'd like to inform you in advance that the characters, stories, and settings appearing in the game are not related to the main series.
As the player 'you', you're a transfer student at Songhwa Girls' High School living a boring daily life when you come across a mystery club promotional flyer. Following the guidance of mystery club seniors, you'll perform various missions to pass the admission test. What kind of challenges await you?
'Girls' High School Mystery Club 3: Admission Test' maintains suspense until the very end through trans-media gameplay that crosses between app and web, combined with various interaction technologies including AR and web views! This promotion has been running since April 22nd at 12 PM, so if you want to experience recent variety show promotions, please participate.
Viewer Participation Promotions: Variety Shows' Survival Strategy in the Content Flood
With the emergence of new media represented by YouTube and Netflix, competition among variety programs is becoming increasingly fierce. Therefore, the increase in viewer participation promotions for variety programs seems to be a survival strategy to build buzz and encourage viral spread before the program airs.
Moving away from traditional passive participation like viewing feedback or surveys, toward more active participation where viewers can experience the program's universe and story. I hope we can see this in many more variety programs in the future. This concludes this week's UniqueGood Experience Trend Letter. Thank you.