[HanCinema's News] "Voice 4" Hopes to Spark a Rebound for Ailing OCN

Following an all-time record with "The Uncanny Counter" last year OCN has fallen into a bit of a slump. The time travel thriller "Times" from this past March underperformed, but not exceptionally so, with 3.1% being a fairly modest number. But "Dark Hole" has proven a surprising misfire for the network. Ratings in the 0% range can't be clearly listed on search engines due to "Dark Hole" airing simultaneously on both tvN and OCN, though the drama was largely branded with the latter network.

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"Missing: The Other Side" in the same OCN time slot last October managed to end with ratings of 4.7% despite having a fairly straightforward mystery concept and a largely unknown cast. Its successor in the weekend timeslot "Search" likewise managed 3.9% ratings, attracting a loyal following due again to its mystery concept, this time in a military setting. None of these dramas compared to the 11% ratings "The Uncanny Counter" on ended, with its more episodic, high concept setting involving mystic powers.

"Dark Hole" seemed to have the right combination of factors to fuse the supernatural with a larger overarching mystery. But viewers just seemed fatigued with a core concept that was largely indistinguishable from zombie stories- not a kind of genre fiction where the origin of the outbreak is typically treated as that important. It's also a genre whose audience may have largely migrated to Netflix, which is currently between "Sweet Home" and "Kingdom: Ashin of the North" for such stories.

"Dark Hole" will soon be followed by "Voice 4" which is, as the title implies, only the latest iteration of a police procedural that has already had proven success in the past. But even "Voice 4" is moving to tvN, and will linger on OCN principally in rebroadcasts. The networks, owned by the same company, have become increasingly fluid in branding, with both ineffectually airing new episodes of "Dark Hole" simultaneously.

Written by William Schwartz