The most-watched Duanju series in France in June 2026
- 3 days ago
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Over 70% of the top twenty series fall under the category of contemporary romance, with a strong presence of billionaires, CEOs, arranged marriages, revenge, and hidden identities. Werewolf and fantasy stories constitute the main alternative genre, while series aimed at a male audience remain very much in the minority.
On DramaWave, Offside: My Fake Marriage with the Soccer Superstar , directed by Thomas Pallier, a French director active in English-language vertical productions, stars Tess Dinerstein and Jared Staub in the two lead roles. The billionaire is portrayed as a soccer star. The plot revolves around a fake marriage that gradually evolves into a real relationship, a narrative structure particularly popular in duanju.
The popularity of romances centered on the wealthy is also evident in The Billionaire's Backup Bride , which reunites Ihor Zaitsev, credited as creative director , and Liulia Zakharchuk, credited as screenwriter. Both have collaborated on several English-language vertical productions filmed in Eastern Europe, a region that now hosts a significant portion of productions destined for international duanju platforms. The story employs classic tropes of arranged marriage, romantic misunderstandings, and disparities in social status.
Fantasy genres follow the same logic of adaptation. Rejecting My Lycan Mate reunites Ihor Zaitsev and Liulia Zakharchuk, this time with a romance transposed into a werewolf universe. Fantasy allows for a renewal of narrative conventions while retaining the emotional appeal that currently dominates the market.
The ranking also shows that advertising investment alone does not explain a series' performance. Some productions achieve a larger audience despite a lower volume of advertising, indicating that other factors, such as the ability of the first episodes to retain viewers, platform recommendations, or word-of-mouth, can also influence their distribution.
