Produce 48: Profiles [P101 S3]

⊱ show format ⊰

We don't know exactly to what extent is Produce 48 gonna be similar or different from the first two seasons of Produce 101. But here are some things that will definitely be in the third season again:

↦ individual agency performances.  On the first two seasons, we've seen them perform by agency on the first two episodes while the mentors evaluate who goes to what class (A, B,C,D, F). In this season, we should expect the individual agency performances although this time I'm not sure how they're gonna do it particularly with the Japanese trainees coming from the AKB48 system and not exactly by agency unlike most of the Korean trainees (except of course if they're an independent trainee).

↦ missions (same or different?).  Again, we won't really know what missions exactly are they going to do for this season - it could all be the same as the first two seasons or Mnet may want to spice things up and change it this time. But just a recap, the "usual" missions we've been doing for the past two seasons are (again, it might be the same or different this season, we still don't know):

         ╚ class evaluation. By agency performance, mentors evaluate trainees whether they would go to either class A, B, C, D or F. There is also a re-evaluation where they individually perform the show's theme song and mentors get to decide their final class. This heavily influences their position and possible amount of screen time they can get on the show's song's music video (mind you, the more you get screentime, the more chance you can appeal to the producers - you guys know how huge its influence is on the votes like the first two seasons).

         ╚ group evaluation. Evaluates how well a trainee works in a team. They usually have two teams perform a similar song, then compete which team earned the most votes from the live audience. Winning teams are granted additional votes on the first elimination.

         ╚ position evaluation. Evaluates the trainees' vocal, dance or rapping ability. Performances are in teams but competition is per individual. Trainee with the most votes out of all who performed in one of the vocal, dance, and rap performances (1 trainee per position) receives a benefit of additional votes for the second elimination.

         ╚ concept evaluation. Evaluates how well the trainees fit various concepts. Trainees are put into different groups with varying concepts - competition this time is by group and not individually. Winning team gets another benefit for the third elimination.

         ╚ centre evaluation (a.k.a finale evaluation). Final evaluation for choosing the final members (last episode).

↦ weekly rankings. At the end of each episode, a ranking of the trainees will be shown - this ranking is based solely on the results from the online voting poll. There are some weeks where they do not show the weekly ranking results - these weeks are either (1) the week before the elimination round or (2) the week of the actual elimination round. Rankings of the trainees in the evaluations or the international 'support' voting polls also do not affect these rankings.

↦ elimination.  We all hate this but sadly, there will again be elimination rounds after each mission/evaluation performances.

↦ controversies.  Just kidding ✌️ but we do hope there will be less (or better yet, none at all) controversies of the trainees this time than the last season. Honestly.

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Now here's what's different this season:

↦ number of participants.  Unlike season one and two, this time we'll only gonna have 96 trainees - 48 will be from Korea and the other 48 will be from Japan (particularly from the AKB48 system). However, the Japanese trainees will only compete against their fellow Japanese trainees and the Korean trainees will also only go against the other Korean trainees.

         ╚ edit : The number of participants for this season will still be 96, but instead of having an equal number of Japanese and Korean trainees, it ended up being that there are more Korean trainees than Japanese. Competition is now also both between Japanese and Koreans (so, the Korean trainees will be competing against both the other Korean trainees as well as the Japanese trainees, and same goes with the the Japanese trainees who'll compete against both the Koreans and other Japanese trainees).

↦ voting format.  There were reports that only Koreans will be able to vote for the Japanese trainees, and only Japanese voters can vote for the Korean trainees. For international fans, I don't think we can vote again :(( We can pray for our faves though 😐

         ╚ edit : It was confirmed that the voting lines for this show will now only be open for Koreans. International fans and even the Japanese fans cannot participate in the voting and overall producing of the debut group.

↦ final team composition.  The final promoting team will be composed of 6 Japanese trainees and 6 Korean trainees (a total of 12). They will also be promoting both in Japan and Korea.

         ╚ edit : The final debut group will still consist of 12 members (a member greater than the past two seasons' debut groups), but there will now be no limit on the number of Japanese and Korean trainees in the final group. This means that one nationality (either Korean or Japanese) can have a greater number of members than the other (8 to 4, 10 to 2, or even 0 to 12 - the decision will still be dependent on who the Korean 'national producers' vote in the final episode). The debut group is also not limited to promote to only in Japan and Korea - they may also go global.

↦ promotional period.  It has been confirmed that the debuting contestants will be able to promote for 2 years and 6 months. This has been agreed upon by all participating agencies. There were reports on whether or not the debuting trainees will be able to promote in their own individual groups at the same time as their Produce 48 contract. There was no exact confirmation from Mnet yet (hopefully they do allow them though tbh).

Media: Produce 48's latest teaser (from Mnet Official).