Latest news with #2025People'sVote
Korea Herald
7 days ago
- Business
- Korea Herald
MBC logs highest viewership on election night
Joint exit polls by broadcasters miss mark, with final tally showing tighter race South Korea's three major broadcast networks, KBS, MBC and SBS, aired marathon coverage of Tuesday's presidential election running some eight hours, with MBC emerging as the clear ratings leader. According to Nielsen Korea, MBC's 'Election 2025' drew the highest nationwide household viewership across all parts of its six-segment broadcast. Its ratings climbed steadily, with Part 1 drawing 4.3 percent, peaking at 14.5 percent in Part 3, and concluding at 5.4 percent in Part 6. MBC was the only network among the three to record double-digit ratings. KBS' election coverage, titled 'Vote That Changes My Life" (translated), saw more modest numbers, starting at 2.4 percent and reaching a high of 5.2 percent in Part 2 before tapering off to 2.0 percent. The SBS special, '2025 People's Vote" (translated), posted still lower figures, opening at 1.4 percent and peaking at 3.7 percent in Parts 3 and 4, before ending at 1.2 percent. MBC's ratings dominance follows a strong performance during April's general election, when it led all Korean broadcasters with a viewership high of 11.7 percent. With election night coverage stretching eight to nine hours, each broadcaster introduced distinct features to retain viewer interest. MBC drew attention for a cinematic countdown video that wove together major moments in Korean history. One segment linked a 1946 speech by independence leader Kim Gu with BTS frontman RM's 2018 address to the United Nations -- an editing choice that garnered considerable online engagement for blending historical gravitas with contemporary cultural relevance. SBS leaned into playful visual effects, incorporating pop culture parodies, including references to "Squid Game" and the viral Pikki Pikki cheerleading dance, both of which gained traction on social media. Meanwhile, the accuracy of exit polls conducted jointly by KBS, MBC and SBS was called into question due to the significant difference between the exit polls and the final vote tally. The poll surveyed 80,146 voters at 325 polling stations nationwide on the day of the election, between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. It carried a margin of error of plus or minus 0.8 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level. The poll projected a decisive win for Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung with 51.7 percent of the vote, compared to 39.3 percent for Kim Moon-soo of the People Power Party -- a projected gap of 12.4 percentage points. However, the final tally showed a narrower margin: Lee received 49.42 percent of the votes, while Kim garnered 41.15 percent, which amounted to an actual gap of 8.27 percentage points. The low accuracy of the exit polls is largely interpreted as stemming from high turnout during early voting, which took place May 29 and 30 and saw a participation rate of 34.74 percent. Since exit polling is conducted only on Election Day, early voters' preferences may have been harder to capture. To account for potential discrepancies stemming from the early voting turnout, an additional 11,500 people were surveyed by phone and correction factors were applied to the data. Despite these efforts, the broadcasters ultimately failed to deliver an accurate prediction. Some politicians attributed the miscalculation to the influence of so-called 'shy conservatives.' During a radio broadcast on Wednesday, Woo Sang-ho, co-chair of the Democratic Party of Korea's election campaign committee, remarked, 'It has been clearly confirmed that shy conservatives made up about 5 to 5.5 percent,' noting that 'voters in this group, who had been hesitant to cast their ballots, ultimately turned out in full force.' In the 2022 presidential election, exit poll results showed Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung with 47.8 percent and People Power Party candidate Yoon Suk-yeol with 48.4 percent. The actual vote count closely aligned, with Lee receiving 47.8 percent and Yoon 48.5 percent. The early voting turnout during the 2022 presidential election reached 36.93 percent nationwide. The additional phone surveys were conducted to improve accuracy and were credited with producing exit poll estimates that were nearly spot-on.
Korea Herald
03-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
Broadcasters pull out all stops for election results coverage
Broadcasters vie for viewership, with high-profile panelists, dynamic visuals and proprietary voting prediction systems South Korea's major broadcasters went all-out for their live coverage of the June 3 presidential election, delivering eight-hour marathon programming that combined high-profile panel discussions and broadcasts with state-of-the-art generative AI. Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation, which led the viewership rating during April's general election, returned with an impressive setup for "Election 2025." The network unveiled the largest LED screen ever used in Korean election broadcasting for displaying election results, expanding from a four-panel display to a six-panel display. Ceiling-mounted wire cameras provided sweeping shots of the studio for dynamic footage. 'Debate M,' a segment of the MBC's election coverage, featured a lineup of prominent figures including author Yoo Si-min, former Korea Economic Daily editor-in-chief Chung Kyoo-jae, Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Park Joo-min and People Power Party lawmaker Cho Kyung-tae. The panel discussed election dynamics and offered insights into the country's political future. Seoul Broadcasting System has stood out in past elections with its eye-popping graphics that heavily reference popular culture. This year, it leaned into spectacle with a 'Squid Game'-inspired segment in its election coverage program, "2025 People's Vote" (translated). Computer-generated presidential candidates, wearing tracksuits reminiscent of those in "Squid Game," were shown competing in traditional Korean games to depict the race to win the election. SBS also debuted Korea's first extended reality live talk show as part of its election coverage. The segment, titled 'Sseoltongryeong,' changed the filming studio into a fully rendered 3D environment that transported talk show guests to digitally recreated locations such as the National Assembly and the presidential office. Guests on the talk show included younger voices such as YouTuber Oh Chang-seok, host of YouTube political satire-comedy channel "President Namcheon-dong"; Park Sung-min, a former youth secretary at the Blue House; and Park Min-young, a People Power Party spokesperson. Korean Broadcasting System turned to generative AI for its coverage titled "Vote That Changes My Life" (translated) -- a first for the national broadcaster. Images depicting cities that were hotbeds of democratization movements and industrial landmarks served as a backdrop to the broadcast announcing the election results, with the network also operating from a dedicated studio for panel talks at the 'K-Cube,' located in Gwanghwamun, Seoul. KBS' analysis segment assembled a diverse panel of politicians and political pundits including Democratic Party members Lee So-young and Kim Sang-wook, People Power Party's Kim Jae-seop, Reform Party's Chun Ha-ram and former JoongAng Ilbo editorial writer Kim Jin. According to Lee Min-young, head of KBS' Election Broadcast Planning Team, this year's coverage took on a more grounded tone. "Given that this election follows a presidential impeachment, we prioritized the public's call for democracy and a sense of returning to normalcy over celebration,' she said via KBS' press coverage of its election broadcast. Each broadcaster also highlighted its proprietary vote prediction system. MBC utilized its own prediction system which integrated exit polls, historical data and live vote counts to forecast results, while SBS deployed 'Yoo-Hwak-Dang,' combining early exit polling with ongoing vote updates to calculate winning probabilities. Meanwhile, KBS used 'Decision K+,' a system that tracked candidate performance in real-time and categorized their chances of victory as 'likely,' 'certain,' or 'elected.'
