TelevisaUnivision Bets on Attracting New Fans Inspired by K-Drama

The Korean phenomenon continues to set global trends, and now TelevisaUnivision brings it to Mexican screens with Contrato De Corazones, Tú Y Yo — a youth comedy and romance series inspired by K-Dramas and K-Pop. The production, premiering October 27 at 6:30 p.m. on Canal 5, was developed by Carlos and Eduardo Murguía, who explain how they adapted the aesthetics and storytelling of Korean entertainment for Mexican audiences without losing local identity.

INSPIRATION AND ADAPTATION

“The company has been wanting to design this strategy for some time, given the success of K-Drama content. Recently, it launched a series of projects with internal production teams; we’re the ones starting this new block or type of content,” explained Carlos Murguía.

He added that it’s a 100% original story set in Mexico, featuring local characters and cast: “The differentiator is that the structure and many of the visual and camera elements are signature to Korean productions—they’ve institutionalized those hallmarks. We’re trying to localize them within a Mexican melodrama.”

VISUAL AND MUSICAL ELEMENTS

Regarding the signature stylistic choices, Eduardo Murguía elaborated:

“They use a lot of slow-motion romantic moments and lighting and graphic tricks to make them very dreamlike, almost like fantasy sequences. There are very specific, highly stylized graphic elements throughout, a distinctive kind of humor, and a farcical extreme as well. Lots of slow motion and meticulous attention to cinematography. The music also has texture, with K-pop songs woven in.”

Although it’s not a musical series, music plays a key role: “Carlos and I have backgrounds with Telehit, with Jelly Fish, with Top 10 K-Pop — we’ve been immersed in the K-Drama and K-Pop world for a long time. That really helped us develop a well-rounded product. Music is a very important element of this series,” he added.

UNDERSTANDING THE FANS

The producers emphasized that part of the project’s success lies in understanding the sensitivity of fans of Korean culture:

“The first thing we did was put together a team of people who are true consumers — equally demanding and die-hard fans of this kind of content. That way we could make sure that the people in charge of the details were accurate and deeply familiar with the genre,” said Carlos Murguía.

Showrunner Erika Morales was key to the creative process: “She’s the biggest fan and the most critical of this kind of content. She got involved in every step of development, always reminding us: ‘Be careful with this, watch out for that.’ Honestly, it wasn’t hard, because we’re also very immersed in this world,” they noted.

A NEW ERA FOR YOUTH FICTION

With 20 daily episodes airing at 6:30pm on Canal 5, Contrato De Corazones, Tú Y Yo aims to connect with new audiences without leaving out family viewers.

“TelevisaUnivision is betting on attracting new fans — a somewhat younger audience too — but moms will love it, dads will love it,” said Carlos Murguía.

The project is also part of the company’s broader strategy to integrate content inspired by Korean formats.

“We’re not trying to steal anything at all. It’s just the story of a Mexican girl who’s a fan of K-Dramas. Nothing more, nothing less,” he said.

The producers hinted that the format combines the emotional appeal of traditional melodrama with Korean visual flair.

“It’s a melodrama with structural and some visual elements from K-Dramas. At the end of the day, it’s still a traditional fiction format,” they concluded.