IU & Byeon Woo Seok: 21st Century Royal Romance?

MBC's Friday-Saturday drama "The King of the 21st Century", starring IU and Byun Woo-seok, is sailing smoothly, seeing a rise in viewership ratings and entering global rankings. The drama is significant in the OTT market, dominated by Netflix, as a domestic company has secured the IP (intellectual property), and it is garnering expectations as MBC's "tentpole drama."

In its 8th episode broadcast, it recorded a peak viewership rating of 14.6% per minute, showing an upward trend compared to the first episode's ratings. Despite some controversies regarding acting and historical accuracy, the fantasy setting of a "constitutional monarchy in the 21st century" and the chemistry between the lead actors are analyzed as key factors for its success. It is currently streaming on Disney+ and maintaining a global ranking of 4th-5th place, while ranking first in many countries, including those in Central and South America.

An MBC official cited global competitiveness and sustained ranking maintenance as the drama's greatest strengths. They particularly evaluated the fact that a Korean drama has remained in the rankings for an extended period on Disney+, where securing original IP is difficult, as an exceptional achievement. Furthermore, the decision to sell the content to Disney+ instead of Netflix, thereby not handing over domestic IP to an overseas platform, is also noteworthy. This is interpreted as a strategy to counter Netflix's dominance and strengthen the competitiveness of domestic IP.

The production cost of "The King of the 21st Century" is reported to be in the 30 billion won range, and MBC is expected to recoup last year's operating loss of 27.6 billion won and improve its financial performance through this drama. In the past, the Broadcasting Promotion Fund's board mentioned this drama as "the biggest tentpole drama since the company's inception." An MBC official described the current performance as "​the highest revenue ever for an MBC drama" and called the continued sell-out, despite difficult advertising conditions, a "miracle."

This drama, which won an MBC drama script award in 2022, received praise for its solid story with progressive and charming male and female characters leading to romance. Unlike past MBC script award winners that were aired on other broadcasters, "The King of the 21st Century" has become a case of successful production as an MBC drama. However, the fact that MBC co-produced it with Kakao Entertainment instead of producing it solely in-house is considered a point of regret.