Broadcasters pull out all stops in Election Day coverage
Broadcasters vie for viewership, with high-profile panels, dynamic visuals, proprietary voting prediction
South Korea's major broadcasters went all-out for their live coverage of the June 3 presidential election, delivering eight-hours of marathon programming, each with a distinct editorial style.
National broadcaster KBS opted for a documentarylike, serious tone, while SBS took a more energetic approach, incorporating upbeat music such as 10cm's 'To Reach You' and prominently featuring its teddy bear mascot, Toopyoro. Meanwhile, MBC stuck to a relatively traditional, news-driven format, delivering the results with a straightforward, businesslike tone.
After leading the viewership rating during April's general election, MBC returned this year with an impressive setup for "Election 2025." The network unveiled its six-panel display, the largest LED screen ever used in Korean election broadcasting for displaying election results. Ceiling-mounted wire cameras provided sweeping shots of the studio for dynamic footage.
The 'Debate M' segment featured a lineup of prominent figures including author Yoo Si-min, former Korea Economic Daily editor-in-chief Chung Kyoo-jae, Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Park Joo-min and People Power Party Rep. Cho Kyung-tae.
SBS has stood out in past elections with its eye-popping graphics that heavily reference popular culture. This year, it offered a 'Squid Game'-inspired segment in its election coverage program, "2025 People's Vote."
SBS also debuted Korea's first extended reality live talk show as part of its election coverage. Titled 'Sseoltongryeong,' the segment turned the studio into a fully rendered 3D environment, transporting talk show guests to digitally recreated locations such as the National Assembly and the presidential office.
Guests on the talk show included younger voices such as YouTuber Oh Chang-seok, host of YouTube political satire-comedy channel "President Namcheon-dong"; Park Sung-min, a former youth secretary at the Blue House; and Park Min-young, a People Power Party spokesperson.
KBS turned to generative AI for its coverage titled "Vote That Changes My Life." Images depicting cities that were hotbeds of democratization movements and industrial landmarks served as a backdrop to the broadcast announcing the election results, with the network also operating from a dedicated studio for panel talks at the 'K-Cube,' located in Gwanghwamun, Seoul.
KBS' analysis segment assembled a diverse panel of politicians and political pundits including Democratic Party members Lee So-young and Kim Sang-wook, the People Power Party's Kim Jae-seop, the New Reform Party's Chun Ha-ram and former JoongAng Ilbo editorial writer Kim Jin.
The broadcasters also highlighted their proprietary vote prediction systems. MBC utilized its own system that integrated exit polls, historical data and live vote counts to forecast results, while SBS deployed 'Yoo-Hwak-Dang,' combining early exit polling with ongoing vote updates to calculate winning probabilities. Meanwhile, KBS used 'Decision K+,' a system that tracked candidate performance in real-time and categorized their chances of victory as 'likely,' 'certain' or 'elected.'
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