Still Watching Programs Aired on Airwave TV?

Television viewers in their teens and 20s are getting away from programs broadcast on airwave TV. AGB Nielson media research, an international ratings company, found that drama, music, animation programs were dramatically losing viewers in their teens and 20s. The annual average share of women in their 20s out of total viewers dropped from 21.9 percent in 2000 to 13.6 percent in 2004.

Drama-

Dramas, which enjoy high audience rating on airwave TV, are the favorite genre among women in their 20s to 50s, but they have been witnessing their viewers going gray since 2000.

Women in their 20s have never made up the largest group of viewers for dramas aired since 1999. Out of 15 dramas with over 20 percent viewer rating last year, women in their 50s made up the largest group of viewers for eight programs, women in their 40s for three programs, women in their 30s for two, and men in their 50s for two.

“Full House,” a popular drama aired on KBS2 last year, was considered a typical drama for teenagers, but unexpectedly it was most popular among women in their 40s. Both “Phoenix” of MBC and “A Wish upon a Star” of SBS, originally targeting women in their 20s, were also most popular among women in their 50s.

However, hit dramas aired in the 1990s since 1992, when viewer rating was first adopted, were most popular among women in their 20s.

For example, “M”(1994) and “Star in My Chest”(1997) of MBC, and “Mr. Q”(1998) of SBS were most popular among women in their 20s.

Jung-Bo Suh suhchoi@donga.com