“It’s so popular that even my Chinese friends talk about Friendly Rivalry" This is the reaction of Kwak Eun-jung, a woman in her 30s living in Shanghai, China.
The STUDIO X+U drama 'Friendly Rivalry' starring actress Lee Hyeri is gaining popularity in China as well as after being simultaneously released in Asia.
'Friendly Rivalry' is a mystery girl thriller about friends who reveal their desires to Woo Seulgi (played by Chung Subin), who transfers to Chaehwa Girls' High School, one of the top 1% in Korea where a cutthroat college entrance exam competition takes place, and the suspicious death of her father, who was a member of the CSAT committee. The cast includes Lee Hyeri as the main character, Jung Soo-bin, Oh Woori, Kang Hyewon, and GOT7's Youngjae.
'Friendly Rivalry' was released exclusively on U+tv and U+mobiletv. It gained popularity by word of mouth despite the clear limitations of OTT (online video service) platform accessibility. According to STUDIO X+U, 'Good Competition' ranked first in all indicators, including number of views, number of viewers, and number of new viewers, for three consecutive weeks among all original dramas. It is also cruising along, ranking 2nd on Naver drama search rankings, 3rd on Kinolights, 6th on Fundex topicality chart, and 5th on Good Data drama search response chart.
It is particularly noteworthy that it is popular in China, where the work has not been officially released. Due to the Korean Wave ban, 'Friendly Rivalry' cannot be directly watched in China, but it can be watched through the global OTT iQiyi. As of the 6th, 80,000 people participated on the Chinese rating site Douban and recorded a rating of 8.8 points (out of 10).
It recorded over 68,000 fans on the overseas drama section of China's large community Weibo. In terms of topicality and number of fans, it ranked third among Korean dramas. 1st place is tvN's 'Lovely Runner', 2nd place is SBS's 'My Demon', and 4th place is tvN's 'Queen of Tears'.
In Xiaohongshu, a representative social media in China, not only the interpretation of the relationships between the characters in 'Friendly Competition' but also the analysis of their subtle psychology are popular. It is attracting attention with one post getting over 1,000 likes.
Interest in the main character Hyeri is also hot. As of February 10th, the day of its first release, Hyeri's SNS (social networking service) Instagram number increased from 9.11 million to 9.73 million as of the 6th. In about a month, 620,000 people followed Hyeri. As proof of her popularity in the Chinese-speaking world, Hyeri's Instagram comment section is full of Chinese.
Wei, a Chinese person who is very interested in Korean dramas, said, "'Friendly Rivalry' is so popular that it is on China's representative SNS algorithm. Not only the kiss scene, but also the luxury goods Hyeri wore became a hot topic." He continued, "It is popular because of the independent female character, the GL (Girls Love) genre, and the stimulating yet tense thriller. I feel that there is a lot of interest in the actors as well as Hyeri."
Kim Heon-sik, a popular culture critic, said about the popularity of 'Friendly Rivalry', "There are suspicious deaths and drug problems in the story of the college entrance exam competition. It also has a fresh GL code that is different from the typical romance. He explained, “It’s content that arouses curiosity and is good for viewers to get immersed in.”
He continued, “If we can figure out what kind of content the younger generation, who are familiar with internet media and OTT, like and create trendy content, even a platform with low awareness can be a hit.” He added, “There is the obstacle of the Korean Wave ban, but we shouldn’t miss out on the Chinese market. I think ‘Friendly Rivalry’ has shown that we can conquer the Chinese market, which is difficult to enter, through methods such as content that understands the needs of global viewers and simultaneous release on global OTT.”
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