From chalkboards to AI: How South Korea turns election night into must-watch TV shows

By Joonha Yoo Posted : June 4, 2026, 17:45 Updated : June 4, 2026, 17:46
Whimsical illustration of various candidates seen, in this grab from broadcaster SBS' program on June 3, 2026. 
SEOUL, June 4 (AJP) - With vote counting for this year's local elections underway on Wednesday, millions of viewers did not simply refresh their phones for results; they sat down and watched.

The country's election night broadcasts have evolved into some of the most elaborate live television events in the country. What began as a functional exercise in relaying vote totals has become a high-stakes arena where major networks aggressively compete, blending real-time data and predictive modeling with immersive studio design and entertainment-style graphics.

Wednesday's local elections offered the latest glimpse into this competition. Major terrestrial networks once again treated the ballot-counting process as their annual flagship production.

MBC anchored its broadcast around a 33.7-meter LED media wall and a rotating LED cube, alongside an AI-generated countdown video. KBS focused on institutional staging and data-heavy presentation. SBS, meanwhile, expanded its partnership with OpenAI, deploying a dedicated AI situation room alongside generative video art.
 
Voters line up outside a polling station set up at an elementary school in Seoul, in this file photo from 1952. Yonhap
It was not always this way. When South Korea returned to direct presidential elections in 1987, election broadcasts were closer to public-service bulletins than prime-time entertainment. Anchors read numbers from counting centers, and simple tables and maps told viewers who was leading.

The first major shift came in 1995, when MBC and Gallup Korea broadcast their own election-night predictions during local elections, correctly calling all 15 regional governor races. The move sparked legal controversy, but forced a rewrite of the rules. Exit polling was formally legalized the following year, and from that point broadcasters could frame the entire night the moment polls closed — explaining momentum and uncertainty before the first ballots were counted.

Graphics and technology did the rest. In 2012, SBS introduced VIPON, its real-time graphics system, pairing live vote data with animated parodies of popular Korean dramas and films. The approach drew strong viewer responses, set the tone for the following decade and soon drew international attention — SBS won a platinum award at the 2018 Houston International Film Festival for its 2017 presidential election coverage, and outlets including the BBC and the Washington Post later covered the format extensively.

Today, these broadcasts double as technology showcases. KBS brought viewers into a virtual studio via a metaverse platform during the 2022 presidential election. In 2025, MBC produced an AI-generated countdown video while SBS deployed a generative AI situation room in partnership with OpenAI Korea. SBS pushed that further in 2026, running an AI situation room analyzing election data in real time alongside a ChatGPT-powered assistant for viewers to look up candidate pledges and voting trends.
 
Candidates for the presidential election in 2025 are seen, in this grab from broadcaster SBS' program.
The ratings battle remains fierce. During the 2025 presidential election, MBC's broadcast peaked at 14.5 percent nationwide — the only major terrestrial network to record double-digit ratings. In the 2022 presidential election, KBS led with a peak of 11.1 percent. In the 2026 local elections, MBC again topped the ratings with a peak of 8.3 percent, its third consecutive election victory.

The contrast with other countries is striking. In the U.S., some 42.3 million viewers tuned in across 18 networks during the 2024 presidential election, but the format remains rooted in maps, vote totals and panel discussion. Fox News led that night with around 10.3 million viewers in primetime, while CNN drew 5.1 million — a 26 percent decline from 2020, continuing a longer trend of falling linear viewership on election night.
 
This photo captured from the BBC's YouTube channel shows how the U.K. general election in 2025 was covered.
 
Britain's BBC drew a peak of 4.5 million viewers for its 2024 general election coverage, with a cumulative 7.3 million tuning in across all broadcasters at the 10 p.m. exit poll announcement. The coverage was authoritative but deliberately restrained. Japan's NHK delivers results with similar formality — a presentation style that makes South Korean broadcasts look, by comparison, like a different genre of television. Some Japanese networks have begun taking note: during the 2026 general election, Fuji TV introduced Korean-style election graphics, drawing attention in both countries.

Part of South Korea's distinction is structural. Broadcasters are allowed to release exit poll data as soon as voting closes, giving networks an immediate narrative to build around. Part of it is also cultural. South Korean audiences have come to treat election night as a collective ritual — a shared experience that combines politics, suspense and spectacle.

Whether that approach helps citizens better understand elections or risks turning politics into entertainment is a debate media critics continue to revisit. Each election cycle now brings a contest not only among candidates, but among networks competing to define what democracy looks like on screen.
Joonha Yoo

Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.

Related