Everybody has probably sung ‘Pick Me’ at least once. Produce created three successful K-pop groups. Produce 101, which was season 1, produced I.O.I., and season 2 produced the boy group Wanna One. Also, Produce 48, the third season, was a TV program that collaborated with the Japanese girl group AKB 48. It eventually produced the girl group IZ*ONE. While various survival audition programs have been broadcast, some viewers got tired of similar survival audition programs. Nevertheless, many viewers are waiting for the next season of Produce. What is the reason for the continual popularity of the series Produce?
  First of all, Produce draws a lot of people’s attention. In the first and second seasons, there were 101 trainees. Among them, only 11 people got a chance to debut. However, in the third season, only 12 people had a chance to debut. At first, people were surprised by the number of trainees, which led to curiosity and attracted people’s attention to the program. Moreover, the trainees caused new issues every time as a result of unpredictable competitions with a variety of missions such as group evaluations, position evaluations, and concept evaluations. Also, the performances improved every season and caught the attention of viewers.
  Also, it differs from the previous audition systems by selecting musicians only through voting, not by a jury of judges. People can directly support some trainees who want to be debuted by voting. The program drops trainees by using a ranking evaluation. People who supported the trainees even advertised them on subway billboards and promoted events in order to avoid their favorite from being voted out, so people who did not even watch the program knew about the trainees from the ads/events. In the end, one group which was created through intense competition gains substantial fandom comparable to the groups promoted by professional companies.
  Kim Da-hae (’17 Dept. of Applied Biotechnology) said about survival TV programs, “It was fun to watch the various charms of the trainees. Also, I watched the series Produce every day because they gave viewers the chance to debut a trainee as a singer, and it gave me a chance to vote.”
  Also, Jeong So-yeong, who is a professor of The Office of Creative and Convergent Education at CBNU, said, “ In the past, the Korean music programs that were broadcast were ‘Gayo Top 10’, ‘Show Music Central,’ and ‘Inkigayo’. However, now they are expanding the programs for more people to participate in. Therefore, various survival audition TV programs have been produced. The programs add stories using the forms of Western-style entertainment TV programs. Also, many viewers show empathy for trainees after seeing them develop. The programs show humanity and fun in the competition with the trainees. Viewers are given the role of ‘prosumers’, which means they participate in production by voting by a text message.”
  In short, the series Produce offers viewers a sense of closeness by giving viewers a vote. Also, viewers can see trainees whom they like from beginning to end, and they feel proud when they help the trainees debut. The series Produce conducts a two-way communication between the program and the viewers. Isn’t that the reason why people are so excited about the series Produce?

By Kim Min-ji l mj39@cbnu.ac.kr
By Kim Chae-hyeon | ch38@cbnu.ac.kr