The drama 'A Business Proposal,' starring actors Kim Se Jung and Ahn Hyo Seop, has garnered much popularity since it first premiered. The drama, which started with a nationwide rating of 4.9%, became increasingly popular and eventually surpassed 10% viewer ratings. 

However, many are surprised by the fact that there are only four more episodes left until the end of this drama as it is receiving much love from viewers.

This is because ‘A Business Proposal’ was planned as a 12-episode drama, unlike previous K-dramas with more episodes. Therefore, the development of the story was very fast from the beginning and was able to grab the viewers' attention. In the same way, Son Ye Jin's drama 'Thirty-nine' is fast-paced as well. Why are K-dramas becoming so short these days and ending when the drama is so fun?

Korean dramas usually consist of 16 to 24 episodes. It has been considered customary to air two episodes a week for 8 to 12 weeks. However, recently, there are a lot of 12-episode and even 8-episode dramas.

Dramas such as ‘Navillera,’ ‘Youth in May,’ ‘Inspector Koo,’ ‘Happiness,’ ‘The Veil,’ ‘Bad and Crazy,’ and ‘Through the Darkness’ are all 12 episodes of dramas that have been released recently.

Netflix was the first to begin this trend of shorter dramas. In online video services (OTT), dramas are usually produced in 8 to 10 episodes, and for this reason, the story development speed is very fast. In order to catch the viewers' attention, the quick story development gives the viewers a sense of great immersion.

Therefore the length of the drama is shortened with the story development speeding up. This became the trend, so broadcast stations also started to shorten the length of their dramas. So, various 12-episode or 8-episode dramas have been released, airing once a week. It is often evaluated that 'consumers' viewing patterns have changed.

It's not common these days for viewers to sit in front of the TV to watch a live broadcast of a drama. This is because there are more cases of viewers watching VOD replays on the way to work or after work, a day after the drama was broadcast live. In order to captivate viewers who watch the drama through mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets, it is important to increase the sense of immersion through faster story development. Simply put, it means that viewers can't stand boredom. If the number of episodes is reduced, production time can be secured, and the quality can be improved.

What the Korean drama lineup to be released in 2022 has in common is that they are all short. 'Pachinko' starring Lee Min Ho and Youn Yuh Jung is eight episodes, Ha Jung Woo and Hwang Jung Min's upcoming drama 'Suriname' is six episodes, Jung Woo and Park Hee Soon's 'A Model Family' is ten episodes, and 'Money Heist' starring Yoo Ji Tae is also produced as 12 episodes.

But most viewers' responses to shorter dramas are positive. Netizens have been commenting, “The dramas were too long." “I like it short,” “I would like it to be a little shorter,” “It is easier to drive straight into it,” and “I like it because there is no dragging out of the story.” On the other hand, there are also reactions such as "It's a pity if the drama I watch is 12 episodes", "Please extend 'A Business Proposal'," and "It's too short" for the dramas that are popular and receiving a lot of love.

However, if the length of a drama is shortened, broadcast companies will have to produce more dramas, which inevitably leads to a burden of production costs. However, as large OTT companies are producing dramas more and more with less than ten episodes. Therefore, it is expected that dramas are to be shorter in the future.