[2] The variety show format was exported to Asia from Europe and the United States, and became popular in South Korea.
[5] In 1998, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) crisis in South Korea prompted fears around the collapse of the traditional family and social systems, and media shifted to reflect those desired values and to raise public awareness of everyday life.
These music programs involve singing, dancing, playing instruments, and other forms of artistry, usually as part of a competition or talent show.
However, because of the limitations in material and format, this type of show has generally not continued into the modern day, except for some representative programs.
The combination of talk show and confrontation entertainment became a signatory program of each broadcasting company such as Happy Together Season 3, Running Man, Radio Star, and Infinite Challenge which ended in summer 2018.
Unlike the confrontational and scripted style of previous shows, many programs invoked human elements and emotions, although there were controversies over the legitimacy of the supposedly unscripted events.
This type of Korean variety show gained popularity because "it strikes chords in both human instinct and happiness and is not just a simple 'entertainer personal show', which is considered to be the limit of existing confrontation entertainment, by adding various fun factors centering on the psychological changes of entertainers and ordinary people".
[9] Korean variety shows form a large part of modern television entertainment in South Korea.
[10] Korean variety shows do not have a fixed format but combine various television genres such as dramas, documentaries, and information programs.
It is a natural procedure for broadcasters to research the public's reaction to a program before they pay the huge production costs associated with a series.
Since the spread of smartphones in the late 2000s, the Korean public has begun to concentrate on viewing mobile content rather than terrestrial and cable.
It has diversified and subdivided from drama, K-pop center to entertainment programs, movies, animations, games, publications and character products.
Through the popularity of Running Man, groups of fans are forming, and its members are holding meetings and also making related product purchases.
Running Man is gaining popularity with Chinese viewers with its novel planning, high-quality scripts, outdoor shooting, and realistic material.
Through entertainment programs such as Running Man, various Korean tourist attractions were exposed to the TV viewer, which promoted them.
The Korean Wave entertainment program Running Man attracts tourists to Korea and potentially affects the tourism industry.
Foreign tourists have become interested in various aspects of Korean culture, such as food, fashion, and shopping through the new perspective shown on Running Man.
[27] The family-style entertainment program, which is popular in Korea, is based on familiar and realistic contexts for all ages, and it naturally injects and reproduces the universal emotions of Korean society and strengthens them at the same time.
[28] The first case where a Korean broadcasting company exported a TV program was in 2003 when KBS sold Dojeon Golden Bell[29] to Chinese CCTV.
However, since Dojeon Golden Bell, most Korean broadcasters' format exports have been dramas that have been popular in Southeast Asia.
In addition to exports, there have been cases of local success based on key formatting elements such as the way Korean programs are produced and their storyline.
In addition, CJ E&M's The Genius has been exported to Western countries such as the Netherlands and France, and SBS's Running Man has started co-production with China's Zhejiang TV.
[30] Korean television has been functioning as a medium for transplanting, reproducing and consuming multicultural discourses through programs of various genres.
Korean entertainment programs have introduced foreigners, globalization and multicultural society, and this tendency is continuously expanding in response to public opinion.