[Y Focus] I’m not a Seventeen fan, but ‘Nana Tour’ I’m looking forward to it

Travel entertainment didn’t necessarily have to go through hardships to be good.

tvN’s ‘Nana Tour with Seventeen’ (hereinafter ‘Nana Tour’), which started broadcasting on the 5th, is PD Na Young-seok’s new work depicting the friendship journey of Seventeen, a popular idol group in their 9th year of debut. It’s entertainment. It is Producer Na’s patented overseas travel entertainment show, and was reminiscent of his previous work, ‘Youth Over Flowers’, in that it showed the cheerful and lively travel stories of members with an average age of 28.

The starting point of the actual ‘Nana Tour’ was also Seventeen’Youth Over Flowers’. Previously, in May, YouTube’s ‘Channel Fifteen Nights”’Fifteen Nights on a Business Trip’, in which Seventeen appeared as a guest, was released. Among the wishes chosen by the members at the end of the broadcast, ‘Youth Over Flowers ‘ I had the right to appear. The members were very happy and actively expressed their willingness to appear, and Seventeen appeared in ‘Youth Over Flowers’ Attention was focused on whether or not it would be produced.

‘Youth Over Flowers’ Why is it ‘Nana Tour’ and not the new season?

‘Nana Tour’ is a package travel concept led by PD Na Young-seok, a travel entertainment veteran with 20 years of experience, as a guide. This is a possible setting because I am a producer who has traveled all over the world and produced various travel entertainment shows. The point is different from ‘Youth Over Flowers’, but instead of the life-hard variety where everything is taken care of on a limited budget, it is ‘all-inclusive’ where you only have to go physically. Traveling changed my personality 180 degrees. To the production crew, ‘Youth Over Flowers’ There was a justification for keeping the promise on Seventeen’s side, and naturally this was ‘for Seventeen’ I created an identity called travel. The large number of people, 12, also played a role.

It is difficult for travel entertainment shows to keep performers comfortable. It could be an extreme form of self-sufficiency, such as heading to the bare ground, providing necessary items only if the mission is successful, or giving a specific topic and having teams compete against each other. This is because there is no reason for a broadcasting company to produce a program that will talk about traveling comfortably while receiving an appearance fee, and it is difficult to find a reason for viewers to watch it as well. This ‘Nana Tour’ In addition to the element of fulfilling the right to wish that Seventeen had won, the plan was also explained as a rest for Seventeen, who had been working tirelessly, to convince viewers who were not fans of the intention of the plan.

Viewers and fandom, can they kill two birds with one stone?

‘Nana Tour’ is not the first travel entertainment show in which PD Na and an idol group have collaborated. ‘Youth Over Flowers’ featuring group Winner The Australian episode was broadcast in four parts in November 2017. However, the Peru/Laos episode featuring Yoon Sang, Yoo Hee-yeol, and Lee Jeok (minimum 3.8%, highest 5.7%, based on Nielsen Korea paid households nationwide) and the Iceland episode featuring Jeong Sang-hoon, Jo Jeong-seok, Jung Woo, and Kang Ha-neul (minimum 6.6%, highest 9.6%)) Compared to the African episode featuring Ahn Jae-hong, Ryu Jun-yeol, Go Kyung-pyo, and Park Bo-gum (lowest 4.4%, highest 12.7%), the Australian episode featuring Winner performed poorly in terms of viewership, with a low of 1.7% and a high of 3.3%.

It is too early to make a hasty decision, but this ‘Nana Tour’ Additionally, the viewership ratings for both episodes 1 and 2 were only in the low 2% range. Na PD also ‘Nana Tour’ Through the production presentation, “It is not easy for an entertainment program starring an idol group to exceed 3% in viewership ratings. “This is because it is difficult to encompass both general viewers and fandom,” he explained.

Nevertheless, why did they produce ‘Nana Tour’ when Seventeen themselves had given up appearing? PD Na said, “Now is the right time to try something related to the globalization of K-pop,” and added, “We produced the program because we judged that Seventeen had popular recognition among idol groups.” Collaborating with SEVENTEEN, who has built a solid global fandom at a time when the influence of K-pop is greater than ever. It seems worth trying idol entertainment again.

The topicality is high. As a result of a survey by Good Data Corporation, a K-content competitiveness research agency, ‘Nana Tour’ ranked first in topicality among TV non-dramas in the first week of 2024 and second in topicality among TV-OTT integrated non-dramas. Seventeen, who is appearing on TV, also ranked second in popularity among non-drama actors. They took the top spot in the boy group brand reputation rankings announced by the Korea Business Research Institute. The research institute said, “As a result of big data keyword analysis, ‘Nana Tour’ and the awards ceremony were counted in high numbers.”There are quite a few comments on YouTube and other sites like, “I fell in love with Seventeen after watching the broadcast.”

PD I was also confident, saying, “It’s fun even if you’re not a Seventeen fan.” In episodes 1 and 2, 12 members, excluding S.Coups, who could not join due to a leg injury, appeared and showed off their individuality. For example, when visiting the Colosseum, there is a ‘recording group’ who are busy taking pictures, an ‘experiential group’ who touch and feel things in person, and an ‘academic group’ who search for related information on the Internet. 39; One sequence was filled without difficulty using only a variety of travel styles. In episode 3, ‘hot air balloon tour’, ‘city center tour’, ‘winery tour’ It predicted a trip to be enjoyed in each person’s preferred style, raising expectations for 12 colorful attractions for 12 people enjoying Italy.

5-minute programming followed by a two-track strategy, Na PD’s non-stop experimentation

‘Nana Tour’ is attracting attention with its unprecedented two-track strategy. Although it is broadcast through the cable channel tvN, a new method was attempted by releasing the ‘full version’ with added content for a fee through the fan community Weverse. The full version’s content length has increased by about 60 to 70 minutes, reaching about 120 minutes, and is being translated and sold in six languages, including English, Japanese, and Chinese. It is a challenge that is completely different from the two-track method using OTT and YouTube.

PD Na entered the web entertainment industry early on in 2015 through ‘New Journey to the West’ and then continued to present entertainment series in a different form from TV through the YouTube channel ‘Fifteen Nights’. ‘Three Meals a Day: Three Meals to Iceland’, ‘Lakinam’, ‘Three Meals a Day’, ‘Mapo Hipster’, ‘This restaurant’, ‘How long will I make you dance on your shoulders’ Na Young-seok’s division’s own universe was created by continuously producing such products.

In particular, web entertainment was promoted to TV, breaking down the platform wall through the unprecedented 5-minute programming. A ‘taste’ of TV broadcasts By using the concept to encourage viewers to become YouTube channel subscribers, it actively targeted young viewers who are accustomed to consuming content through online video services (OTT) and YouTube. Until recently, ‘babble’, ‘buzz’, ‘sizzle’ The content is infinitely expanded. I wonder what the results of this experiment will be without stopping there and going one step further.

[Photo = provided by tvN, OSEN]

YTN Choi Boran (ran613@ytn.co.kr)

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