What makes Produce 101 so successful compared to other Korean survival shows?
The concept of Produce 101 is simple, but yet it has remained wildly popular since its inception in 2016.
Summary
In this review, we seek to discover the unique appeal of the Produce series and what has led to its popularity, success and the competitive edge it has over other Korean survival shows.
What is Produce 101?
Produce 101 is easily one of the most popular and successful South Korean reality series of all time. Having birthed popular music acts such as Chungha, Wanna One and Jeon So-mi, it seems that the series has discovered the key to success, with success beyond South Korea itself. However, in recent times, the series has been plagued with controversy, raising concerns about the franchise’s future.
Launched in 2016 by entertainment conglomerate CJE&M, the franchise is built around the idea of creating Korea’s ultimate ‘idol group’, adopting a ‘battle royale’ concept, where 101 aspiring idols are pitted against one another in weekly talent showdowns.
What makes the franchise different from other survival style talent competitions, is that the decision making process is 100% left to the audience. Viewers may vote online or via text to decide who gets to the next round. The 101 strong number is eventually narrowed down to a final 11, who will go on to ‘debut’ as a temporary idol group (a.k.a. project group) at the end of each season.
Produce 101’s first season featured an all female lineup, and was aimed at creating South Korea’s ‘ultimate girl group’. Its final 11 contestants eventually debuted as the breakout girl band ‘I.O.I’, to critical success. This initial success led to the renewal of a second season that featured male contestants. This season, the most popular till date, birthed the wildly popular boy group ‘Wanna One’.
During Wanna One’s 1.5 year run, the group enjoyed critical success, even beating veteran boy group BTS in terms of popularity at their peak. The group also clinched several high-profile and lucrative endorsement deals, further cementing their success.
The success of both ‘I.O.I’ and ‘Wanna One’ have been linked to their roots as Produce 101 contestants, raising the popularity of the show by association. Since then, the show has continued to follow its success formula, releasing two additional seasons.
The audience’s participation as the ‘nation’s producer’ is a key element in Produce 101’s success.
When looking at Produce 101’s success, it is important to consider the factors that make it so. Unlike many other survival series, the outcome of Produce 101 is solely in the hands of its audience. The show regularly engages the audience in the decision-making process at several key segments of the competition.
For example, the audience is given the opportunity to vote and select the songs for the contestants during the concept evaluation rounds.
This participatory and interactive element ‘empowers’ the audience as a ‘nation’s producer’, allowing them to feel as though they wield the same amount of power as that of an actual industry professional, who is responsible for the idols’ debut and activities. The audience is further invested in the show, through a continuous feedback loop, where the rankings of the contestants are updated at several points throughout each episode, further encouraging audience members to vote for their favourite contestants.
Another key difference that sets Produce 101 apart from other survival shows like “Show Me The Money” is its group element. In previous survival shows, an individual champion usually reigns supreme. In Produce 101, there are usually 11–12 “winners” in every season who move on to form the project group. A group line-up usually secures a larger fanbase as opposed to a singular individual.
The human experience
When looking at the success of the Produce series, one cannot discount the value of the human experience. In every episode, the audience gets to see other facets of the contestants beyond their singing and dancing abilities. The show often puts contestants in situations that showcase their personalities beyond their talents.
These situations are documented by hidden cameras, bringing an element of authenticity to the table that allows the audience to connect with contestants on a human level.
The show also documents the highs and lows of the contestants’ journey to becoming an idol, bringing the viewer along the way, exposing the viewer to the pursuit, struggles and eventual realisation of the contestants’ dreams throughout the season.
This fosters an emotional connection that keeps users invested in the show. This is illustrated through the many comments of fans across forums and social platforms. As mentioned in a comment on a Youtube video, a fan of the produce series, user ‘commercialfree’ says that she believes that “(As) we see the struggles and success of each trainee/participant, the show makes us invested to our bias/favourite participant/trainees”.
Media Connections, pre-show hype and promotions
From a business standpoint, the Produce 101 series can attribute its roaring success to effective marketing and media connections.
Mnet’s Kim Yong-Bum, serving as the Executive Producer of the Produce series, is a key figure behind the series success. An industry veteran, Kim is widely recognised as a power player in the South Korean entertainment industry, having produced televised competitions for over a decade. Survival shows under his belt include “Super Star K” and “Show Me the Money”, giving him both the experience and the connections in producing a successful survival show.
Limited release
While winners of typical survival shows often debut as permanent acts, the ‘project groups’ from the Produce series are set up as temporary acts, performing as a collective unit for a limited time only. This creates an urgency for fans to fervently show their support for the group before their eventual disbandment, furthering the success of such groups, and by association, the franchise.
Both I.O.I and Wanna One have reportedly sold out their finale concerts at the end of their promotions.
International appeal and crossover
The success of Produce 101 has led to its global expansion, with spin-off international franchises and ‘rip-offs’ in China and Japan. In addition, the series also draws international fans to the show by featuring several international contestants from other countries. One of the most successful contestants is Lai Guan Lin, a Taiwanese contestant who debuted with Wanna One. Due to his heritage, Lai brought a significant number of Chinese fans to the show.
Notably, the 3rd season of the Produce 101, aptly named ‘Produce 48’ was the inaugural crossover/collaboration with AKB48, one of the biggest entertainment groups in Japan.
The season featured a mixture of Korean and Japanese AKB48 trainees as contestants with the final line-up of the season eventually consisting of a mixture of Korean and Japanese contestants.
Given the popularity of the AKB Group in Japan, the collaboration helped the Produce series reach out to the Japanese audience, further increasing their audience base.
The controversies — Malicious editing and votes-rigging scandal
In spite of its popularity, the Produce series has been the subject of controversy throughout its run. The series has been accused of malicious editing as well as bullying on set. However, in recent months, accusations of vote rigging have surfaced, leading to a reputational blow for the series.
During the 4th run of the series, fans noticed that the gaps in votes between some of the trainees were identical. Notably, there were five voting gaps between the top 11 contestants that came to exactly 29,978 votes each.
This ‘coincidence’ raised red flags among fans, who accused the show of deliberately manipulating the votes. While MNET initially denied the accusation, continued backlash resulted in them releasing an apology, citing a calculation error but assuring viewers that it had no bearing on the positions of the winners. When that too failed, MNET announced that they had submitted a request for an investigation with the Police.
The accusations of vote manipulation, made worse as former staff allegedly confirmed the details, served to undermine the very principles that made Produce 101 successful, in that the viewers were the sole decision makers (referred to as ‘nation producers’), and that it was through their continued support that their favourite contestants were able to succeed. The idea that the votes were manipulated, and that winners were predetermined, shattered the illusions of choice the viewers had, resulting in massive backlash. Some viewers even filed formal lawsuits and complaints against MNET.
To make matters worse, as a result of the controversy, many sponsorships and brand representation opportunities for the season’s winning contestants were halted, as many companies became cautious about their relationship with Produce 101.
As Produce 101 offsets the show’s production costs through advertising deals, the controversy has hurt the series financially, making the future of the show uncertain.
Future Challenges
As Produce 101 continues to be embroiled in scandal, parent company CJ E&M seems to be looking elsewhere. Several big changes are expected in 2020, much to the disadvantage of the Produce series.
Most notably, CJ E&M and Big Hit (an entertainment company responsible for producing popular idol group BTS) recently formed the joint venture, “Belift Lab” earlier this year and are currently holding global auditions for this project. Given the high stakes nature of this venture, it is likely that the Produce series will be seen as a liability, and shelved for the foreseeable future.
Combining CJ E&M’s experience and resources in producing Produce 101 and Big Hit’s expertise in producing global idols, this collaboration is expected to be promising, should it comes to fruition as a televised competition.
Conclusion
The future of the Produce series does not look particularly positive. The reality is, the show had already been on a steady decline in both ratings and votes since its second season.
As culture critic Ha Jae-geun points out, there is an overall fatigue among K-Pop fans who have seen a slew of audition programs since the first season of the Produce 101.
Ha also predicts that “It’s highly unlikely that people will be interested in the group that debuts [from new seasons of Produce 101]” and advised the network to take a break from the franchise so that the audience may not be overwhelmed.
As such, it is unsurprising, albeit somewhat ironic, that survival shows like Produce 101 are finding it increasingly hard to survive in an increasingly saturated market.
Sources:
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