- 怖狐 -

GMM by the numbers: is GMM in danger of getting less gay and more bro-y?

You decide based on a six year trend. (Based off of continued vibes discourse in the Peaceful Property tag)

2019: 2 BL, 15 het romances, 1 bromance

2020: 4 BL (if you count The Shipper and Ohm does), 11 het romances (1 with queer themes), 3 Bromance (TayNew’s first bromance is in this year) 1 thriller

2021: 4 BL, 10 series with main het romance (1 with gay storyline), 1 bromance

2022: 7 BL (if you count both Star and Sky installments as separate), 12 series with a main het romance (3 with queer themes), 1 action comedy

2023: 9 BL (if you count Our Skyy 2), 6 het romances, 2 bromances

2024: 9 BL, 2 GL, 5 Het romances, 2 Bromances (2 bl, 1 gl, 2 het still filming)

2025: 🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️ we’ll find out soon!

(All data pulled from My Drama List GMM25 - outside studios whose content airs on GMM25)

As usual, I’ve probably missed the root dramatic cause that made a need for this data (thank you for gathering it double!), and I’ve likely got the types of blogs making the noise blocked, but I’m imagining it’s some silly rhetoric about GMM killing off BL for the sake of bromance and how that’s so bad or that it’s somehow ‘queer baiting’.

I’ve not watched High School Frenemy, and I probably won’t because I don’t love bullying stories, but I did watch Peaceful Property and I’ve watched other ‘bromance’ shows and I think often you’re A. Doing them a disservice by referring to them as such, you wouldn’t label a close, non-sexual friendship between women or between a women and man you only do it for men as though it’s something odd that needs a label, and B, you’re ignoring a whole subset of the LGBTQIA+ gang who can see themselves in characters like Peach & Home who found family and home in one another without the need for physical intimacy.

You’re placing your desire for a kiss moment over seeing that the relationship that played out for you didn’t need that moment. Question why you watch queer stories if you’re not happy why they’re queer.

GMMTV is definitely not above criticism, but I can't help but think this feels like more "branded pairs ruin everything" bias. First it was claims that scripts were being rewritten to accommodate branded couples, then "building shows around branded pairs is ruining the entire genre", and now "branded pairs are pawns being used to bait people into watching non-BL shows".

I'm not saying there isn't room for criticism, but I have yet to see any compelling evidence outside of strongly worded essays. That's why I appreciate @doublel27 pulling data, because it's important to remember 1) this industry is still so damn young, 2) trends take time to show, and 3) having strong feelings can often lead us to forget about our biases. What do the actual numbers tell us?

And now that we're getting some other big players in BL, what do we see for the whole industry? Production companies like Change2561 and Idol Factory are getting more and more attention, GMMTV may well decide they can't compete with heat, so will look at other queer-friendly niches. Including platonic ones. That's not a bad strategy.

Also, have these people looked at the difference in views between BL shows and "bromance" shows (as they call them)?

I know Youtube views are just one of the many metrics by which a show's popularity is measured but it still says a lot that if we compare part [1/4] of the 1st episode of currently airing shows, the amount of views on Youtube is as follows:

Simply having a branded pair in your show does not translate into more views/popularity, if said show isn't actually a BL.

Therefore, if gmmtv is as money-hungry as these same people believe, it would stand to reason that there is no way they'd ever want to start making "bromances" with branded pairs over BLs, as people clearly want to see branded pairs play explicitly queer characters (who are romantically involved and at least kiss, if not more) over them playing friends or when there's "open to interpretation" queerness where the characters never get together on the show.

So no, I don't believe "bromances" will start replacing BLs at all, since, at the very least, there's no monetary incentive to do so.

I'd just like to add one more interesting data.

From the lists of 5 het romances and 2 bromances aired by GMMTV so far on 2024, 3 featured canon gay couples in them.

... And this list does not even include the side queer characters that were not in romantic relationships.

What I want to draw attention to is that, even when they are not the main focus, the channel's series have been presenting more and more characters who are explicitly queer. The queer representation has been growing in grounds (for audiences) that were not specifically prepared for it, and it appears their goal is normalizing that. Making it something casual and constant.

With that in mind, it seems unlikely that they will start dismantling all the work they have been doing and a dry spell of queer characters and queer narratives is coming any time soon.