SEVERAL months have been spent inside our homes as lockdown measures try to slow down the spread of the pandemic which has sickened tens of thousands in the Philippines and millions around the world. Since Filipinos could not go outside, they turned to watching a lot of Korean dramas and local movies to entertain themselves, according to a study done by an e-commerce aggregator.

iPrice Group, a Southeast Asian e-commerce aggregator based in Malaysia, published a study this month on the viewing behavior of Filipinos before and during the lockdown by collating web searches using Google Trends and “recorded streaming sites’ notable increase in web visits” via SimilarWeb from January to May, according to a release.

The study showed that Filipinos really love K-dramas, specifically Itaewon Class, a series about an ex-convict and his friends trying to make their dreams for their street bar a reality. The show saw a 9,900% increase in searches during the lockdown (mid-March to May) compared to the two months before the lockdown.

Also getting a boost in searches were 2015’s Reply 1988 which was up by 456% and Crash Landing on You which experienced a 105% increase in searches during lockdown, though it should be noted that the 2020 series about a woman getting stranded and rescued by a North Korean soldier, ended its run in February when searches about the show were at their peak — but iPrice noted that during lockdown, people revisited the show which led to the increased searches from March to May.

Local movies also saw a boost. The historical epic Heneral Luna (2015) by Jerrold Tarog saw an 809% increase in searches during lockdown, while it’s sequel, Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral (2018), saw an increase of 300%. Cult-favorite family film Four Sisters and A Wedding (2013) by Cathy Garcia-Molina saw a 376% increase.

Old American sitcoms were also on the radar of Filipinos staying inside as Modern Family saw an increase of 426%, while Community’s search interests’ increased by 400%, and How I Met Your Mother’s by 355%. Modern Family ended its run in April after 11 years on air, which could have contributed to the increased interest.

But the most popular show for Filipinos during lockdown was Netflix’s Money Heist, the Spanish TV show about a group of people robbing the Royal Mint in the first season, and then the Royal Bank of Spain in the second season. It had just released the second part of its second season during the lockdown, which iPrice said is the likely reason for the interest.

Money Heist has consistently remained in the top and upper rankings of the most-watched shows in the Philippines even before the lockdown, according to Netflix.

Streaming services like Netflix, iflix, HBO Go, and Apple TV, each experienced a jump in web visits during the lockdown. Even niche streaming services saw a jump with Mubi (which curates 30 movies from around the world at a time) seeing a 97% increase in web visits from February to April, while Korean-content streaming service Viu saw a 59% increase, and anime streaming site Crunchyroll saw a 35% increase. — Zsarlene B. Chua

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