A Study on The Elements that Affect Filipino Viewers' Preference
Towards Korean Drama
Daryll E. Canes
School of Media Studies
Mapúa University
Intramuros, Manila, Philippines
decanes@mymail.mapua.edu.ph
Abstract — Korean Drama or popularly known as Kdrama, is
very popular around the world specifically in the Philippines.
Filipinos really accepted and love Kdrama like Stairway to
heaven, Descendant of the sun, Crash landing on you and
many more. Korean dramas have contributed to the Filipinos’
fascination toward Korean drama as it incorporates the
elements of filming a movie to their series, more than that, it
also has unpredictable plot twists. With these study, it will
help the local dramas to be improved and to compete on the
same level as Korean Dramas Thus, more Filipinos will watch
and support local dramas.
Keywords—Korean dramat; theme; cinematography; storyline;
characters; settings
I. INTRODUCTION
According to Pruitt (2019), before the division of
Korea, it was a single peninsula ruled by generations of
dynastic kingdoms. After the Russo-Japanese war, Korea was
colonized by Japanese rule and chafed after 35 years. Until
then, unified Korea was divided into two nations when World
War II ended. In 1945, both Soviet Union and the United
States decided to divide Korea into two nations: North Korea
and South Korea. North Korea is located on the northern
portion of the Korean peninsula while South Korea is located
on the southern portion. South Korea today is one of the well-
off countries in East Asia below Japan and China. South
Korea is very well known for their unique Korean pop
industry, the Korean pop culture became very well known
around the world because of what people call “The Korean
Wave” it is the phenomenal growth of South Korea’s culture
from movies, music, drama, cuisine and even online games.
South Korea used the strategy called soft power to gain their
popularity and power over the world. Soft power means that
one country is using the power and influence of their image to
gain advantage to their growth as a nation. Korean wave
boosts the economic growth of Korea which makes the
country dedicate their goal to become the world’s leading
exporter of popular culture. One of the most contributors for
Benigno B. Agapito, Jr.
School of Media Studies
Mapúa University
Intramuros, Manila, Philippines
bbagapito@mapua.edu.ph
the growth of Korea through Korean Wave is the most popular
before up until now which is the Korean Drama or popularly
known as Kdrama, it became very popular around the world
specifically in the Philippines. Filipinos really accepted and
love Kdrama like Stairway to heaven, Descendant of the sun,
Crash landing on you and many more (Roll, 2018). Korean
drama and Filipino drama or teleserye have a lot of differences
such as language, clothing, weather, and many more. Both
countries have a unique clothing and fashion sense also
because of their weather or seasonal changes like winter that
the Philippines does not have which Korea possesses (Mateo,
2018).
Conducting this research aims to determine the
specific element of korean drama that makes Korean drama
appealing to Filipino taste. With that, Filipino people will
know why Korean dramas are more popular than local dramas
in the country. Knowing so, will make the people know how
and what to improve in our local dramas so that the
Philippines can compete at the same level and popularity with
other countries, specifically South Korea.
The study only focuses on five elements of drama:
storyline, characters, settings, cinematography, and theme.
These elements will be used to determine which attracts
Filipino people the most in watching Kdrama. Any other
elements of drama will not be covered in this study. The
results acquired from this research are results from the online
survey conducted by the researcher.
II. METHODOLOGY
This research focuses on the opinion of respondents
regarding the five elements of drama which makes Filipino
attracted to Korean dramas. In this study, the researcher will
use quantitative research design. Quantitative Research Design
is aimed at discovering how many people think, act or feel in a
specific way. Quantitative projects involve large sample sizes,
concentrating on the quantity of responses, as opposed to
gaining the more focused or emotional insight that is the aim
of the qualitative research. Questionnaires that contain
structured questions will be distributed to 20 Filipino people
who watch Korean dramas. Respondents will be selected
through random sampling where the researcher will gather
data to determine the element of drama which attracts
Filipinos the most.
The following figures tackle the 20 respondents’
answers, which also shows the percentage of the collected
response in each element of drama. The percentage shown on
the figures illustrates the opinion of the respondents regarding
elements that appeals them when it comes to watching Korean
dramas.

The researcher will be using a survey questionnaire

to conduct the study through sending out google forms to 20
people that will participate. The questionnaire contains open-
ended and closed-ended questions for the respondents to
accomplish the objectives of this study. There will be a total of
10 questions in the questionnaire, the questions will be related
to the five elements in the study. It will be divided in equal
parts: 2 questions per element. The information collected from
the respondents will be confidential. Figure 1. Storyline

The data gathered by the researcher from the survey
will be based on descriptive analysis. Descriptive analysis is a
descriptive statistic of a summary statistic that quantitatively
describes or summarizes features from a collection of
information, while descriptive statistics is the process of using
and analysing those statistics. Using this method, the
researcher will provide summaries of the information gathered
from the respondents. Also, the type of the descriptive analysis
that will be used is measure of frequency which shows the
count, percentage or frequency of the responses.
Figure 1 shows 100% of the respondents agreed that
the storyline of Korean drama is more appealing than the
storyline of local drama. The respondents’ answers state that
Kdramas are not cliché and have unpredictable plot twists
which makes it more interesting to watch. Moreover, Korean
drama’s flow and structure of the story are well written,
unique, creative, and relatable.

The researcher will utilize purposive sampling in

choosing respondents who will answer and participate in the
study. Purposive sampling is a non-probability sample
wherein researchers rely on their own judgement and
respondents are selected based on a certain characteristics of a
population. The purposive sampling is also referred to as
judgemental sample or expert sample. The main objective of
purposive sampling is to produce a sample that can be
logically assumed to be representative of a population. The
chosen respondents in this study are people who watched
Korean dramas. The sample size (20) will represent the whole Figure 2. Characters
population.

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In this chapter, the researcher seeks to identify which

elements affect the fascination of Filipino viewers the most.
The researcher also presents the findings from the survey
questionnaire which contains formulated questions about the
five elements which are storyline, characters, settings,
cinematography and theme. The discussions are based on the
answers of the chosen respondents on the survey.
 Figure 2 illustrates that 95% of the respondents
agreed that characters from Korean dramas are more attractive
than the characters from our local teleserye. Respondents think
that Korean drama characters are more appealing because they
are really cute and can deliver their acting pretty well.
Participants also stated that Koreans are appealing because of
their charisma in portraying their designated characters and
also, korean dramas never fail to showcase that their actors
and actresses promote the importance of health, having proper
hygiene, as well as endorsements of skin products that are
usually included in the series. The korean characters showcase
their healthy living as well.
Figure 3. Settings
In Figure 3, it indicates that 85% of the respondents agreed
that Korean drama has more appealing settings than Filipino
teleserye, respondents also said that settings of Korean series
makes it appealing because they love to showcase their tourist
spots/attractions to exhibit their culture and the wonder of
their country. For the respondents Korea is a beautiful country
itself, they showcase how their setting is well maintained and
taken care of. They implement rules that they must strictly
follow in order to maintain cleanliness. Their setting shows
the reality of each area whether they show the busy streets or
the quietness of empty big houses.
Figure 4.Cinematography
Figure 4 shows that 100% of the respondents think
that cinematography in Korean dramas are more attractive
than the cinematography of Filipino local dramas.
Respondents think that the cinematography of Korean dramas
somewhat follow how movies are being filmed, that it
incorporates the elements of filming a movie to their series
which makes a lot of appeal to the viewers because it appears
to be well-presented or made. Respondents also added that
Korea probably invests in their cinematography equipment in
order for them to achieve showcasing their beautiful country.
Figure 5. Theme
In Figure 5, it can be seen that 90% of the
respondents agreed that the theme of Korean dramas are more
appealing in the taste of the Filipino viewers. According to the
respondents Filipino tend to find love as an adventure to our
life and the way Koreans make the story of finding love in
their series is unique and appealing to Filipinos. Respondents
also stated that Filipino teleseryes have been rerunning themes
to the point that nothing is surprising or unique anymore,
Every plot starts to look the same, while Korean dramas rarely
recreate themes which make their series unique to watch.
IV. CONCLUSION
The results from the responses of the participants illustrate
the perspectives of Filipino viewers towards Korean drama.
With a percentage of 95% of the population, people think that
characters greatly contribute to the fascination of Filipino
viewers toward Korean dramas. Meanwhile, 90% of the
population believes that themes also contribute to the
attraction of Filipinos to Kdramas. Within the five elements
mentioned in this study, settings has the lowest percentage of
being the contributor of Filipino’s attraction to Korean
dramas. Lastly, with a 100%, storyline and cinematography
are the elements that have great impact for the Filipino
viewers. Respondents think that storyline and cinematography
of Korean drama have contributed to the Filipinos’ fascination
toward Korean drama as it incorporates the elements of
filming a movie to their series, more than that, it also has
unpredictable plot twists. With these data, it will help the local
dramas to be improved and to compete on the same level as
Korean Dramas Thus, more Filipinos will watch and support
local dramas.
V. RECOMMENDATION
The researcher would like to recommend to further study
other elements of Korean dramas that attract Filipino viewers.
It is recommended for the future researcher to consider having
a wider variety of sources to gather data, the future researchers
should include the opinion of other countries on why Korean
dramas are attractive.

VI. REFERENCES

Mateo, Lourdes. (2018, March 2). K drama vs Filipino drama.

Retrieved from
https://www.slideshare.net/lourdesmateo2/k-drama-vs-
filipino-drama

Pruitt, Sarah. (2019, January 15). Why are North Korea and
South Korea divided. Retrieved from
https://www.history.com/news/north-south-korea-divided-
reasons-facts

Roll, Martin. (2018, January). Korean wave (Hallyu) – The

rise of Korea’s cultural economy & pop culture. Retrieved
from https://martinroll.com/resources/articles/asia/korean-
wave-hallyu-the-rise-of-koreas-cultural-economy-pop-
culture/

South Korea. (2018, August 21). Retrieved from

https://www.history.com/topics/korea/south-korea