ONE31 / Idol Romance
Since its first boom in 2020, Korean BLs have been growing very fast. Not only is there more and more produced, but the quality and screening time also improve. Korean BL started with an overall of 10 to 15 minutes per episode, with dramas such as "Where Your Eyes Linger" or "Mr. Heart". But in 2022, other dramas such as "Semantic Error" have been released, and overall, each episode was lasting around 20 to 30 minutes, which is twice what it used to be in 2020.
However, if this might seem like an important improvement, Korean BLs are still far from reaching the standard of Thai BLs. The industry of Thai BL has been gaining popularity since early 2017, and it is also when the quality and number of BL produced changed drastically. Thai BL now has a running time of 45 minutes to an hour per episode, and most series have above 10 episodes. While Korean BLs are still stuck to 8 episodes most of the time.
In 2021, the first collaboration happened between the two industries with the drama "Peach Of Time". In this drama, both Thai actors, Tommy Sittichok and Jimmy Karn, and Korean actors, Choi JaeHyun and Jeong AeYeon, appeared on the screen. In the drama, both Thai actors spoke mostly Thai, even if Jimmy is saying a few words in Korean at the beginning. However, Tommy sang the OST of the drama entirely in Korean! This first collaboration was the beginning of a new track for Korean BLs. It's not like the Korean BL industry will change to resemble the Thai industry, but the Korean BL market seems to be ready to open up to Thailand. And for sure, this will benefit both of them.
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