MBC’s ambitious decision to air the Disney+ original series A Shop for Killers as a Friday-Saturday special has failed to reverse its declining ratings. Instead, the drama has continued to lose viewers, eventually falling into the 1% range.
The contrast with SBS’s Friday-Saturday drama Agent Kim Reactivated has been particularly striking. While Agent Kim Reactivated recently surpassed a nationwide rating of 21.6%, becoming one of the biggest television sensations of the year, A Shop for Killers has struggled to gain traction with broadcast audiences.
The disappointing performance is even more painful considering MBC’s previous success with the same strategy. Not long ago, the network aired Disney+ hits Moving and Big Bet on television, with both titles recording ratings as high as 5.7% and topping their respective time slots. With another proven OTT hit in hand, many are asking why A Shop for Killers failed to resonate.
One of the biggest reasons may be MBC’s failure to consider the viewing preferences of the traditional 50- and 60-something television audience that still dominates weekend primetime.
Both Big Bet and Moving were anchored by veteran stars Choi Min Sik and Ryu Seung Ryong, actors who enjoy immense trust and recognition among middle-aged viewers. Simply seeing these acclaimed film veterans return to television was enough to attract a loyal audience.
By comparison, A Shop for Killers is led by Lee Dong Wook and Kim Hye Jun. While both actors possess strong popularity among younger viewers and generate significant buzz online and across short-form platforms, their appeal does not necessarily translate into the same drawing power for traditional weekend TV audiences. The mismatch between the target demographic and the cast may have existed from the very beginning.
Genre accessibility also played a significant role. Big Bet follows the straightforward rise and fall of a man chasing wealth and power through organized crime. Its direct storytelling allows viewers to join the series midway without much confusion, making it well suited to weekly television broadcasts.
In contrast, A Shop for Killers revolves around a mysterious shopping mall inherited from an uncle and an intricate conflict involving professional assassins. The drama constantly shifts between past and present through nonlinear editing and fragmented storytelling. While this narrative style works exceptionally well on streaming platforms, where viewers can binge-watch episodes and rewind whenever necessary, it becomes much harder to follow in a weekly television format interrupted by commercial breaks.
Another factor is timing and content freshness. When Moving and Big Bet made the transition from Disney+ to television, many viewers who were unfamiliar with streaming platforms saw the broadcasts as an opportunity to finally watch highly praised series they had only heard about.
However, A Shop for Killers relies heavily on mystery, twists, and surprise revelations. By the time it reached television, major plot developments and ending spoilers had already circulated widely online. Younger viewers who already knew the story had little reason to tune in for scheduled broadcasts, while older audiences often chose the more accessible and emotionally satisfying narrative offered by SBS’s Agent Kim Reactivated instead.
As production costs continue to rise and broadcasters seek ways to fill programming schedules, adapting successful OTT originals for television will likely remain an important strategy.
However, the disappointing performance of A Shop for Killers demonstrates that simply rebroadcasting a successful streaming series is not a guaranteed formula for success.
Without carefully matching the platform, storytelling style, cast appeal, and viewing habits of television audiences, even a globally acclaimed streaming hit can struggle to find its place on traditional broadcast TV.
Sources: Naver