Reasons Why People Prefer To Watch Foreign Content Over Pakistani Dramas

 

Even though Pakistani dramas are getting millions and millions of views on social media and YouTube, people still prefer to watch foreign content over local Pakistani dramas. Watchers on different platforms express their opinions on the quality of content shown on television and some can’t stop wondering who is watching these dramas. But amidst all this debate the bottom line is Pakistani drama makers have failed to provide the content on television to keep the audience hooked. Here in this blog, we have highlighted a few of the reasons why despite pocketing millions of views on YouTube people prefer to watch foreign content over Pakistani dramas:

Pakistani dramas with millions of views on YouTube

1. There's No Youth Representation On Pakistani Television

The majority of Pakistan’s population comprises youth yet there’s no representation of them in Pakistani dramas. Although the actors in Pakistani prime-time dramas are young; the stories of these dramas are not something the young audience enjoys or wants to watch. There was a time back in the early 2000s when youth-centric game shows, TV shows, channels and dramas were introduced whose sole purpose was to provide entertainment to young audiences. Shows like Kollege Jeans (1999) were made to which youth-related and enjoyed a lot. The gradual decline in the production of such shows and broadcasting of pop culture-oriented channels made the youth take an exit as an audience from television. They found their solace in the foreign content where they felt relatable to their stories and found content aligning with their interests.

Popular Pakistani sitcoms during the early 2000s

2. Quality Scripts Are Limited To Either Ramazan Special Rom-Coms Or Serious Societal Issues

Pakistani drama writers do not have a wide range of topics in their vaults to keep everyone entertained. The plot of the dramas revolves around a poor, miserable, weak “bechari” female lead who is either stuck in a love triangle or dealing with toxic in-laws. When our writers think outside of the “Saas-bahu” mentality they only come up with serious stories that target social stigma, politics or some other serious topic. Another “scheme” that Pakistani drama makers have found is the “Ramzan special rom-com”. Since these dramas were funny, different and the audience reacted positively to them, Pakistani drama makers decided to produce tons of them every year; each channel showing the same storyline with different actors. Maybe they forgot that overconsumption and overuse of something is harmful too! Now, as far as foreign content is concerned, there are a number of genres to choose from. The audience is not forced to watch the same thing over and over again with the different faces. They want to laugh they have comedy series like Brooklyn Nine-Nine, they want thrill, they can watch something like Breaking Bad, they have access to hundreds of shows in hundreds of genres. Why would they stick to the same old stories of Pakistani dramas?

Popular Pakistani Ramzan dramas/rom-coms

3. Social Media Viral Antics And Greed Ruins The Scripts

Another thing that ruins the vibe and have made the audience shift to foreign content is because Pakistani drama makers as soon as they find out that the drama is receiving good reviews tend to increase the number of episodes by introducing some ridiculous plot twist. We recently saw this happening with two popular Pakistani dramas: Ishq Murshid and TereBin. Although I do not rate Tere Bin as a good drama, still audience enjoyed it. But the already flawed plotline got even flawed when the writers and director of Tere Bin decided to bring in an unnecessary plot twist and stretch the drama. The same thing happened with Ishq Murshid. It was a decent rom-com. The audience loved it, but it was unnecessarily stretched. Why? Because it went viral. It brought in TRP and everyone involved in the production wanted to cash in. Previously, in Pakistani dramas, the audience never saw this happening. (maybe because social media didn’t influence the makers back then). The writers and directors stuck with the original script and that was what made those dramas iconic. The essence of Pakistani dramas has been the consistency in the plotlines which have been lost to being the top trending drama on social media.

4. Pakistani Industry Has Failed To Market And Create A Brand From Their Dramas And Actors

To make a mark in this digital world and around the globe, the most important aspect is marketing. You want to sell a product; you need to market it and you need branding. You want the world to watch your dramas, market them and create a brand out of your stars and projects. Unfortunately, Pakistan's industry has failed to do so. Why do we think K-pop and K-dramas are so popular? Despite having a language barrier, people love to watch Korean dramas. This is because they have effectively marketed their dramas and industry. They not only showcased their own culture while doing so but also highlighted socio-culture, work culture, relationship issues etc. in an entertaining story. This is something that Pakistani dramas are lacking. Not everything is about marriage and winning over someone’s heart. There’s more to life and Pakistani writers and directors need to show that on screen to win over their audience. Also, Pakistan has actors who have won hearts in Hollywood and Bollywood with their acting skills, it’s high time they look at them as the face of the industry and create a brand out of their skills.

How Come Despite All Of These Pakistani Dramas Have Millions Of Views?

Despite losing the majority of their audience to foreign content Pakistani dramas have found their audience among the older generation, lower- and middle-class locals and Indians.

Although the youth and some others have developed a liking for foreign content and shows, the older generation still like to watch shows based on domestic lives and “Saas-Bahu” stories. This generation not being active and familiar with technology is stuck with their television sets and bound to watch whatever is shown on the television. Another type of audience that is stuck with Pakistani dramas is the lower and middle class who do not have the privilege of Netflix and other platforms and solely rely on their local cable channels for entertainment. These local cable operators only provide local channels which include news channels, a few drama/entertainment channels and our standard one or two sports channels. There are no foreign entertainment channels available on cable since these cable operators have to pay a certain amount of fees to the government to broadcast them. So, in this scenario, the local audience has only the option of watching Pakistani dramas.

The people in the rural side of Pakistan make up another majority part of Pakistani television and drama audience. The people in these parts also love to watch stories of domestic lives, love stories, and typical Saas-Bahu stuff.

Now, let’s discuss the part of the audience based on whom Pakistani makers claim to call Pakistani dramas a “Global Sensation”. Introducing none other than the neighbours- The Indian Audience.

Indians love watching Pakistani dramas. For them, Pakistani dramas are far better than what their country produces which is true. Indian audiences love Pakistani dramas because there’s no unnecessary background music involved, the stories are about normal middle-class people who are not dressed up 24/7 in extravagant clothes and makeup, there’s no “Punar Janam”, and at least the dramas end within a few months and not stretched for years showing the stories of generations. Also, the purity and elegance of the Urdu language and melodious OSTs of Pakistani dramas are what keep them hooked up.

Comments about Pakistani dramas from across the globe
Source: YouTube and Reddit

Apart from Indians, no other country’s people are watching Pakistani dramas with the same zeal. Pakistani dramas lost the Bangladeshi audience to the biased content. They were never popular in other countries like Nepal, the Middle East and the West. Even if the trends show that Pakistani dramas are being watched in the Middle East, the truth is it’s actually the overseas Indians and Pakistanis who are watching it. You’ll be surprised to know that the majority of Middle Eastern natives etc. don’t even know that Pakistan has its own entertainment industry.

Are Pakistani Dramas That Bad?

Actually, they are not! The unfortunate part is that good dramas lose their popularity and place amongst tens of other dramas because sometimes the audience that appreciates them is limited and the ones who would appreciate them don’t find out about them.

Audience comments about Zard Patton Ka Bunn on YouTube

Over the last few years, the Pakistani drama industry has seen good dramas being made and some of them found their audience and some of them unfortunately couldn’t. Dramas like Zard Patton ka Bunn (2024), Alif(2019), Kuch Ankahi (2023), Khaie (2024), Neem (2023), Sinf-e-Aahan (2021), Zulm (2024), Mere Hamsafar (2021), SangeMar Mar (2016), Sang-e-Mah (2022), Parizad (2021) etc are examples that there’s still hope for Pakistani drama industry. Shout out to “Green Entertainment” as well for bringing diverse stories into the market. Most of the dramas on “Green Entertainment” are exactly what the audience has been asking for so long and now it’s finally here.

Dramas available on Green Entertainment
Source: Green Entertainment's official website

Conclusion

There’s no denying to the fact that the Pakistani drama industry has lost the majority of its audience especially youth to foreign content, but one good script here and there and one good show bring them back. It’s a matter of realization for Pakistani drama makers and the industry will be back to its glory. Pakistan has enough talent to make it to the global charts as well. The makers have to learn to introduce some diverse stories into play and depth into characters. No one is asking them to stop making their favourite “Saas-Bahu” content as there is an audience for that too but apart from that experiment with stories and screenplays. People are going to watch whatever they like so at least provide them with a choice do not shove them with only one-dimensional content. Hope to see the Pakistani drama industry stand next to foreign content on charts soon! Till then Meow!