A Study on the Q Methodology on the Factors of Korean Viewers’ Preference for Watching Chinese Drama: Focusing on Costume Drama

Abstract

With the continued development of the media, the spread of multicultural dramas has become a common concern of the drama industry, and the export of dramas has become an important way to improve the culture of countries around the world. Currently, Chinese costume drama is actively consumed through OTT platforms, such as remakes in Korea. In order to maintain this desire of Korean viewers, the subjective viewing preference factors of Korean viewers were analyzed using the Q methodology and based on this, implications for the entry of Chinese costume drama into Korea were presented. As a result of the study, it was confirmed that the factors that Korean viewers prefer to watch Chinese costume dramas were divided into types that prefer traditional historical dramas and types that prefer fusion historical dramas. Cultural curiosity is the preferred factor in the pursuit of traditional culture that likes traditional historical dramas based on cultural similarities. Based on cultural similarities, fusion historical dramas can be divided into visual effect-seeking types that prefer colorful production environments and fandom-seeking types that prefer to like actors, and content excellence is the preferred factor. It can be seen that this is an individual's subjective taste in which various factors of preference for Chinese costume drama appear depending on the viewing tendency. This study is meaningful in presenting the factors of Korean viewers' preference for viewing differently depending on the preference for viewing traditional historical dramas and fusion historical dramas in the production environment of Chinese costume drama.