첫방 (cheotbang)

첫방 (cheotbang) is the shortened form of 첫 방송 (cheot bangsong), “first broadcast” — the episode in which a drama, a variety show, or an idol group’s comeback stage goes out into the world for the very first time. At 9:55 on a Thursday night, Korean group chats fill up with lines like these: 야, 5분 남았어. (ya, o-bun namasseo.) “Hey, five minutes left.” 치킨 시켰어? (chikin sikyeosseo?) “Did you order chicken?” 첫방이니까 같이 보자. (cheotbanginikka gachi boja.) “It’s the premiere, so let’s watch it together.” Replaying the trailer all week, pushing back your dinner plans, gripping the remote and waiting for the commercials to end — if you had to name that entire giddy evening with one word, the word is 첫방.

Let’s start with the pronunciation. It’s written 첫방, but what you actually hear is closer to [첟빵] (cheotppang). The second syllable tensing up like that is extremely common in Korean compound words, so if you go by the romanization and read out a crisp, evenly spaced “cheot-bang,” it ends up sounding unnatural. Run the syllables together at the speed Korean fans say them and it lands right.

첫방 isn’t a word for delivering information — it’s a word for carrying anticipation. A news article reports the same fact as 첫 방송 (cheot bangsong), and the production company’s press release says 첫 방송 too. But the people who have been waiting for that drama never call it 첫 방송. The moment you lop off a syllable and say 첫방, excitement and impatience come attached to it. It carries the feeling of “something I can’t afford to miss,” “something I have to watch at the same moment as everyone else.”

That’s why 첫방 rarely travels alone — it almost always brings a partner along.

첫방 사수 (cheotbang sasu) — making absolutely sure you catch the premiere live. 사수 (死守) is originally a Sino-Korean word meaning “to defend to the death,” so the sheer exaggeration becomes a declaration of love.
첫방 시청률 (cheotbang sicheongnyul) — the ratings for the first episode. In the industry, people read a drama’s entire fate out of this one number.
첫방 무대 (cheotbang mudae) — an idol group’s first music-show stage with a new album.

A Real Conversation

Setting: 9:57 on a Thursday night. The living room at Emily’s place. The two of them tear open a box of fried chicken and settle onto the floor in front of the TV.

Jun-kyung: 야, 빨리 앉아. 3분 남았어. 첫방은 무조건 본방으로 봐야지. Hey, sit down already. Three minutes left. You’ve got to watch the premiere live.

Emily: 알았어, 알았어. 근데 1회부터 그렇게 재밌겠어? 나 보통 4회쯤부터 재밌던데. Okay, okay. But is episode one really going to be that good? Usually it only gets fun around episode four for me.

Jun-kyung: 모르는 소리. 첫방 시청률로 그 드라마 운명이 갈려. 광고도 다 거기 붙어. You don’t know what you’re talking about. The premiere ratings decide the drama’s fate. All the ad money follows that number.

Emily: 아, 그래서 어제부터 단톡방에 ‘첫방 사수’라고 도배했구나. 나 알림 스무 개 왔어. Ah, so that’s why you spammed the group chat with ‘watch the premiere live’ since yesterday. I got twenty notifications.

Jun-kyung: 이제 알았냐. 자, 조용. 시작한다. Now you get it. Okay, quiet. It’s starting.

Emily: 잠깐, 자막을… 아, 됐다. 15년 살았는데 자막이 웬 말이야. Wait, let me turn on the subtitles… ah, forget it. I’ve lived here fifteen years, what subtitles.

Ways This Sounds Off

✗ (at a production press conference, in front of reporters) 저희 드라마 첫방은 다음 달 3일입니다. (jeohui deurama cheotbangeun daeum dal sam-irimnida.) ✓ (at a production press conference, in front of reporters) 저희 드라마 첫 방송은 다음 달 3일입니다. (jeohui deurama cheot bangsongeun daeum dal sam-irimnida.) — “Our drama premieres on the 3rd of next month.” → 첫방 is an abbreviation viewers and fans use among themselves. Used at an official event or in a press release, it sounds so light that people think, “Wait, does this person think they’re chatting with a friend?” In formal settings, you don’t chop the word down.

✗ 오늘 우리 딸 어린이집 첫방이야. (oneul uri ttal eorinijip cheotbangiya.) ✓ 오늘 우리 딸 어린이집 첫날이야. (oneul uri ttal eorinijip cheonnaliya.) — “Today is my daughter’s first day at daycare.” → The 방 in 첫방 is 방송 (放送), “broadcast.” It never attaches to anything that isn’t a broadcast. A first day at work is 첫 출근 (cheot chulgeun), a first day at daycare is 첫날 (cheonnal), and a shop’s opening day is 오픈 첫날 (opeun cheonnal). If you see only the “first” part of the meaning and stick it anywhere, Koreans genuinely won’t know what you’re saying.

Example Sentences by Situation

1. Rescheduling plans (to a friend, casual speech)

미안, 오늘은 좀 어려울 것 같아. 그 드라마 첫방이라 집에 일찍 가야 돼. (mian, oneureun jom eoryeoul geot gata. geu deurama cheotbangira jibe iljjik gaya dwae.) Sorry, today’s going to be tough. That drama’s premiere is on, so I have to get home early.

Using a drama premiere as your reason for postponing plans is an excuse that works pretty well in Korea. The other person will usually just go, “Ah, right, that’s today?” and let it slide. 첫방이라 is a contracted form of 첫방이어서.

2. Monday morning, with a coworker (polite speech)

어제 그거 보셨어요? 첫방부터 마지막 5분이 완전 반전이던데요. (eoje geugeo bosyeosseoyo? cheotbangbuteo majimak o-buni wanjeon banjeonideongeyo.) Did you watch that yesterday? Right from the premiere, the last five minutes were a total twist.

첫방 is an abbreviation, but it slots comfortably into light polite-speech conversation between coworkers of similar age. That said, if the other person is much senior to you, or the setting is official, it’s safer to switch to 첫 회 (cheot hoe, “first episode”) or 첫 방송 (cheot bangsong).

3. A fan account post (to a general audience)

드디어 내일이 첫방입니다. 다들 본방 사수 잊지 마세요! (deudieo naeiri cheotbangimnida. daedeul bonbang sasu itji maseyo!) Tomorrow is finally the premiere. Everybody, don’t forget to watch it live!

This is the classic sentence a fandom account posts the day before a comeback or a drama’s first airing. The reason a formal ending like 첫방입니다 doesn’t clash here is that the audience isn’t a senior — it’s “people waiting for the same thing you are.”

Just swap the ending and you’re set. Casual is 오늘 첫방이야 (oneul cheotbangiya), general polite is 오늘 첫방이에요 (oneul cheotbangieyo), and formal is 오늘 첫방입니다 (oneul cheotbangimnida). Keep in mind, though, that formal endings usually go with official occasions — and in those, it’s more natural to walk the word itself back to 첫 방송 (cheot bangsong).

Korean has a whole family of words built by trimming 방(송) down to a single syllable. Memorize this table as a block and Korean drama community posts will suddenly become readable.

Expression	Temperature / Intensity	Where it’s used
첫방 (cheotbang)	excitement, impatience	friends, fan communities, social media
첫 방송 (cheot bangsong)	neutral, formal	news articles, press releases, official announcements
본방 (bonbang)	emphasizes watching live	among peers, as in 본방 사수 (bonbang sasu)
재방 (jaebang)	regret, or relaxed catching-up	when you missed it; flipping channels on a weekend afternoon
막방 (makbang)	emotional, wistful	the day the final episode airs
결방 (gyeolbang)	deflation, annoyance	when a week is skipped for sports coverage and the like

One thing to watch out for. 막방 (makbang) means “final broadcast,” while the similar-sounding 먹방 (meokbang) means “eating broadcast.” One syllable turns “a drama’s last episode” into “a video of someone eating.” It’s the pair learners mix up most often, so learn the two sounds side by side.

Cultural Background — The 10 p.m. Gate

The reason the word 첫방 carries so much weight comes down to how Korean broadcasting schedules its programming. Korean miniseries dramas usually run 12 to 16 episodes, airing two episodes a week on two consecutive nights. That’s where the names 월화드라마 (worhwa deurama, “Monday-Tuesday drama”), 수목드라마 (sumok deurama, “Wednesday-Thursday drama”), and 토일드라마 (toil deurama, “Saturday-Sunday drama”) came from, and for a long time the start time was fixed at right around 10 p.m. It’s a structure in which the whole country starts the same story on the same day of the week at the same hour.

Within that structure, premiere ratings are not a simple number. That number sets ad rates, sets off a flood of buzz articles, and shifts the mood of overseas licensing negotiations. So the production team crams the most shocking scene of all into the final five minutes of episode one — they have to drag viewers along to the next episode. When Korean fans say 첫방 보고 판단하자 (cheotbang bogo pandanhaja), “let’s watch the premiere and then decide,” it’s because experience has taught them that those five minutes reveal almost everything about a drama’s character.

The word-formation is simple: 첫 + 방(송). You keep only the first syllable of the second word and fuse it on — the most common abbreviation method in Korean internet language. 본방, 재방, 막방, 결방, and 생방 (saengbang, “live broadcast”) all came out of the same factory. Learn one rule and six words arrive at once.

These days streaming services sometimes drop every episode at once, so the old sense of “the whole nation, at the same moment” has faded a little. Even so, when midnight on release day comes around, fans still sit there with notifications turned on, and for idol fans, the 첫방 무대 (cheotbang mudae) of comeback week is still one of only a handful of events all year. The word was born in the broadcast era, but the feeling it holds — that we’re all witnessing a beginning together — is still very much alive.

Today’s Quiz

Which of the following sentences uses 첫방 (cheotbang) naturally?

나 내일 새 회사 첫방이라 긴장돼. (na naeil sae hoesa cheotbangira ginjangdwae.) — “I’m nervous because tomorrow is my 첫방 at the new company.”
이 식당 오늘 첫방이래. 개업 떡 돌리더라. (i sikdang oneul cheotbangirae. gaeeop tteok dollideora.) — “They say today is this restaurant’s 첫방. They were handing out opening-day rice cakes.”
그 배우 복귀작 첫방이 이번 주 토요일이야. (geu baeu bokgwijak cheotbangi ibeon ju toyoiriya.) — “The premiere of that actor’s comeback project is this Saturday.”
(to your boss) 저희 신제품 발표회 첫방은 3월입니다. (jeohui sinjepum balpyohoe cheotbangeun samwolimnida.) — “Our new product launch event’s 첫방 is in March.”

Show the answer

Answer: 3

The 방 in 첫방 is 방송 (“broadcast”), so it only attaches to content that gets broadcast. Sentence 1 needs 첫 출근 (cheot chulgeun) and sentence 2 needs 오픈 첫날 (opeun cheonnal); sentence 4 isn’t about a broadcast in the first place, and it’s an official remark in front of a superior, so it’s doubly off. Pointing to the first episode of a drama, variety show, or music program, as in sentence 3, is where 첫방 belongs.

Definitions and example sentences are from the National Institute of Korean Language’s Basic Korean Dictionary (krdict.korean.go.kr); that portion of this post, including our translations, is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 KR.