Top Airing Shows MyDramaList vs. Drama ratings in Korea

In my opinion, the thing about  'Young Lady and Gentleman', it is a weekend family drama, this is the staple family type drama that usually gets high ratings. KBS weekend dramas as been pretty much consistent through out the years. They target women (Ahjummas) and families who stay at home over the weekend to sit through a very wholesome type genre (in non-cable TV).

In contrast, MDL users are probably of different type of demographics as compared to the general audience who has access to dramas in Korea. 

Target audience for YL&G are probably less prone to signing up to sites just to "rate" dramas. They would probably probably have access to Stream/download but don't see the need to 'rate' drama in MDL. They would just go to their FB groups/other forum to gush about it. So Unless MDL can qualitatively and quantitatively include those other sites, the rating will definitely be not the same...

Another lesser degree reason is that  some fans of youthful dramas/stars would have the tendency of ballooning and skewing ratings  in MDL. Multiple accounts can easily be made in MDL just to "rate" dramas. I've seen a movie rated 10/10 and a brilliant review, even before the movie was released in theaters. MDL did say that those ratings are not included in the official 'ratings' but it just goes to show how much fans would do to lift up some projects....fans and target audience for YL&G won't probably do that....

And lastly, you did mention about accessibility. that is another reason...

Yeah, endless networks also in Korea, though it seems KSB is one of the major ones. 

What animes or dramas you would think are kind of westernized ? I still would think when it comes to full length movie animes from Japan, like from Ghibli, or Makoto Shinkai's works, it doesn't seem to be westernized at least to me.

With the Kdramas I'm not so sure...I guess the success of squid game in the western world was that the game thing and tension from the violence is may be more popular than the romantic dramas in the west, or at least it's what Netflix think ;-). On the other hand squid game still covers lots of special korean focused topics, like society, economy, etc.  Or what drama do you have in mind ?  

I just hope the upcoming money from Netflix doesn't lead the korean drama industry to lose their "base" for the worse.

Take your time :-) Yes, I think I get what you mean. Regarding My Name, I yet have to watch it.

For me actually when I read the plot of My Name and Vincenzo, even those two got high ratings everywhere, I kind of put those on a low prioritiy in my plan-to-watch list. And that is exactly because I'm like: So it's your usual revenge thing ? Or oh, it's your usual Mafia setting ? ...and it's just not as appealing (like 'been there done that' as may be because I'm European and used to it) as e.g. something like Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha where I'm curious about that small village korean style romance thingy. But of course that might be just me and the show can be still very good. On the other hand I still would say with the classic crime themed drama/movie done in Korea I was never disappointed so far, as there's a special unique vibe there.

It's just that, when there's too much money involved, the big movie makers, like Netflix, or especially the US industry seem to play "safe" very often, just thinking of the multiple season approach or those endless Marvel/DC. Let's hope that kind of thinking doesn't sneak in too much...I would guess if the budget for the kdrama's is small the risks are smaller anyway. We all know what they can pull of with just a bunch of good actors and plot, no need to to waste money of special effects & CGI all the time...

Regarding "Your Name" I think now I should re-watch and pay attention to what you mentioned. I mean when I remember talking to some friends in Japan, they were also totally into Pixar/Disney animation movies and so I would think also writers/directors appreciate those and so you'll have a mutual influence like in many art-forms.

Just sometimes I wonder why some art forms are still very separately. While k-pop is now known all over the planet, I still have a hard time digging into J-rock/J-punkrock ...and there are so may cool  bands out there in Japan, especially lots of all-female-bands, so much musical talent...may be just nobody is doing marketing outside Japan as they think somebody sing japanese won't make money outside of the country. Ok, sorry for being a bit off-topic :-)