We are not getting better dramas because the producers are choosing to make the same type of dramas that they always make. That’s all they seem to know how to make. They are excusing the fact that ratings are low because people don’t watch live tv anymore, they are choosing to watch later via their devices. But not just tv ratings have fallen… on average view counts on their apps aren’t that high too. Great was so popular when PL was on air a couple of months ago. But his current drama with Namtarn & Toey is only getting around 2-ish in ratings, and just hitting about 100K in views on 3Plus. These numbers might increase later, of course.. but these days 3 is considered average, and 5 is considered good. Live view numbers 100-200K is considered average.
Ch3 seems to be making dramas only for the old-time viewers like the people posting on Pantip. They often start posts asking suggestions for fantasy casting of old dramas to be remade. Which most viewers today will be like - ugh, we would rather not have remakes. When the disagreement between Prom Likit’s novelist and scriptwriter broke out last month, most on Pantip agreed with scriptwriter. Most in twitter were on the novelist’s side — and they tend to be the types who watched K,C and other dramas too. Ch3 may have considered PL a huge success, and ratings were indeed high. But the fan meeting tix weren’t sold out. And until today they’re still selling the drama’s merchandise — which likely meant they didn’t sell well.
Ch3 isn’t focusing on the right things. Script must be of utmost importance, and then finding the right actors. And then all the marketing - which needs a unified strategic approach. If the script is interesting enough, you don’t need Pope-Bella to make it a huge success. Denkhun’s last drama (granted it was an evening drama) had an average story, but ratings-wise it hit 5-6, considered a success. If script, direction and editing isn’t good, then even having Nadech-Yaya cannot guarantee good ratings. They need scripts with fresh approach, written by scriptwriters who are more aware of what today’s audiences like to watch. But I think those scriptwriters are writing scripts for producers who make dramas for Netflix and other services. Like whoever who wrote the script for Analog Squad on Netflix, which I just started watching.
