Korean pop culture, in numbers

How long a Korean title holds a chart — films against series

A series has another episode coming; a film does not. If that changes how long something holds a chart place, the two should part company — and Netflix publishes films and series as two separate top 10s, so they can be compared without either crowding the other.

Korean films 1.96 weeks · every other film 2.02 — the same. Korean series 3.72 · every other series 2.71.

Four groups, measured the same way

RunsMedian weeksMean weeksGone after one weekLasting 4+ weeks
Korean films3,85321.9642%8.8%
Every other film117,29322.0242.4%9.9%
Korean series7,92633.7230.8%38.5%
Every other series78,98122.7134.1%23.3%

A run is one title in one country across consecutive chart weeks. Seasons of a show are counted separately, because Netflix lists them separately and they are separate runs.

Korean films might hold a chart for fewer weeks than Korean series simply because films do that everywhere. Every non-Korean title on the same charts is therefore measured the same way, and what is left after removing the format gap is the part that is about Korean titles.

A run still on a chart in the last week we hold has no finished length. Counting it would make recent titles look short. Those runs are removed and counted separately. That is 1,860 runs out of 209,913.

The part that is actually Korean

Series minus films, mean weeks
Korean titles1.76 weeks
Every other title0.69 weeks
Difference1.07 weeks

Series outlast films everywhere, so most of the gap between the two Korean rows above is the difference between formats rather than anything about Korea. Korean series pull away from Korean films by 1.07 weeks more than other series pull away from other films. That is the part left over, and it sits entirely on the series side.

One title could have done this. It did not.

A mean run length moves easily with a handful of very long runs. Each group is therefore measured again with its single most-charting title removed; if the difference survives, no one show is carrying it.

Mean weeksWithout the biggest title4+ weeksWithout the biggest title
Korean series3.723.5638.5%36.4%
Every other series2.712.6723.3%23%
Korean films1.961.968.8%8.7%
Every other film2.022.029.9%9.9%

The gap narrows and stays. We do not name the removed titles — the point is that no single one of them is carrying the result, not which one it was.

How they leave

Of Korean series runs that ended, 62.9% ended from positions 8, 9 or 10 — against 57.5% for other series and 44.4% for Korean films. A Korean series is on the chart longer and then slides off the bottom of it; a Korean film is more often simply gone.

And they are not sitting low to begin with: Korean series spend 28.2% of their chart weeks in the bottom three positions against 30.2% for other series. They climb, hold, and then slide. How a title leaves has the whole position table.

How this was counted, and what it cannot say

A run ending is not viewing ending. A title outside a top 10 is invisible here at any level of viewing, so a shorter run means less time on a rank list and nothing more. Netflix publishes no viewing figures for country charts.

How a title leaves · Staying power and force · Korea exports television, not film · How we count

What we wrote from this data