To fight declining television popul

To fight declining television popularity among K-pop fans, many networks and cable channels now offer a new type of program: live K-pop audition shows. These shows have been a sensational success. Since 2009, such live K-pop audition programs have increased rapidly, with many of them experiencing overnight success in terms of viewing rates and commercial sponsorship. CJ Entertainment broadcast the first of these live audition programs, Super Star K1, on its cable channel, Mnet, in 2009 (Kim 2011). Many people wrongly inferred from the name that the live audition was intended to recruit future K-pop superstars. As a result, a plethora of talented young people queued up to appear on this live television audition show. Despite the fact that none of the finalists of the Super Star K1 audition actually became K-pop superstars or were hired by the big three K-pop recording companies, 1.34 million young talents lined up to audition for the show’s second season in 2010 (Cho and Son 2011; Kim and Kang 2012). The average viewing rate remained 18.1 percent throughout season 2, which is a tremendous figure for a cable channel in Korea (Lee 2011).