The archive · Content & Film · Product decision · 2016–2019
Mnet's Produce 101 makes viewers 'national producers' — the audience builds the idol group
Mnet's survival show lets 101 trainees compete while viewers vote as 'national producers' on almost everything — the top 11 debut, and Asia copies the format.
CJ ENM · Mnet
What it had to solve
By 2016 Korean idol audition shows such as 'Superstar K' and 'K-pop Star' were losing ratings after a saturated decade, with judges picking winners and audiences only watching. Mnet needed a format that gave the public a real stake in the outcome.
How it works
In 2016 Mnet premiered 'Produce 101': 101 trainees from different agencies competing through weekly missions, with the final 11 forming a project group, I.O.I. The twist was that viewers voted as 'national producers' on almost everything — which songs were performed, who stayed, and finally who debuted.
Previous audition shows such as 'Superstar K' had judges pick winners; here mentors advised and the audience decided. Fans voted daily through the app and by text, unlocking hidden photos and special stages, so engagement ran for the whole season instead of one finale. The Korea Herald credits the voting with giving the rookie group 'market-dominating power': the fandom that voted was the audience waiting at debut.
The format spread fast. KBS's 'The Unit' and JTBC's 'Mix Nine' copied the structure, and Chinese shows 'Idol Producer' and 'CHUANG 101' adapted it directly, introducing terms like 'national producer' and 'C-position' into Chinese fan discourse. All four Korean seasons' groups — I.O.I, Wanna One, IZ*ONE and X1 — debuted to record sales.
Why it lands
- Voting on everything made fans co-authors of the group, not spectators of a show.
- The project-group model guaranteed demand before debut: the people who voted were the first audience.
- Weekly rank reveals and fan-vote perks kept a continuous engagement loop between episodes.
- The format's mechanics were portable, so broadcasters across Asia copied the structure wholesale.
- By naming fans 'national producers', Mnet turned fandom labor into a visible, legitimate production input.
What it did
Wanna One became one of the hottest K-pop acts of 2017, and all four seasons' groups (I.O.I, Wanna One, IZ*ONE, X1) debuted to record sales. Rival broadcasters launched copies ('The Unit', 'Mix Nine') and China produced 'Idol Producer' and 'CHUANG 101'; 'national producer' and 'C-position' entered fan vocabulary.
What you can take
Give the audience a vote that materially changes the product and they become co-owners: participation converts viewers into a launch-ready fanbase — and that power invited fraud.
Since then
In November 2019 police detained the show's director and chief producer over allegations of rigging the fan-voted results across all four seasons, and Mnet apologized; IZ*ONE postponed its album and X1's activities were thrown into doubt. Even so, the 'produce' structure kept traveling — Japan ran 'Produce 101 Japan' and China continued with 'Youth With You' — making it one of the most imitated TV formats of the decade.
Sources
- Coming of the era of 'national producers'
- The Influence of Korean Wave on Chinese Fan Culture — A Case Study of Seasons 1 & 2 of PRODUCE 101
- Audition show's fall from grace derails high-flying careers of winning bands
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