MUMBAI: Hallyu has impacted Indian youth in a big way. Korean pop, dramas, and beauty were already thriving subcultures in India, but in 2020 these became part of India’s mainstream.

The testimony is in the rising numbers of everything Korean. A recent OTT platform report stated, “The viewing for K-dramas on their platform in India increased more than 370 per cent in 2020 over 2019”. The number of streams for K-pop doubled in 2020 and BTS was among the top five artists overall on a leading music streaming app. At many levels, K-Dramas are more relatable than US or British shows due to the similarity in cultures of both the countries, adding to their popularity.

Keeping in mind the obsession that GenZ & millennials have, Zing became the first channel in the genre to launch K-Dramas & tap into this fast-growing trend. Zing aired Boys Over Flowers which got an overwhelming response from the audience. The show pushed Zing back into leadership position. Viewership was high across all time-bands but the original time-band increased by 2X! Given the success of the first show, Zing has decided to continue to bring joy in the viewer’s lives by launching more K-Dramas, starting with Descendants of the Sun this week.

ZeeL music cluster  deputy business head Pankaj Balhara said, “K-Pop and K-Dramas have been an important sub-culture among India’s GenZ for a few years now and 2020 took this fandom many-folds higher. One of the key reasons for the popularity of K-Dramas is the massive similarities between the two cultures. For e.g. Romance is depicted in a very similar manner and themes include Rich boy, poor girl, intense love story triangles, etc. They also believe in family values which resonates well with the Indian audiences. After the massive success of Boys over flowers, we have decided to air more K-dramas on the channel. Through content innovation either creating or curating, we want to give best of entertainment to our consumers.”

Catch Descendants of the Sun, Mon – Fri, 2pm only on Zing