Drama viewership ratings for the week of Dec. 21-27, 2020
by SailorJumun
Hope everyone had a good Christmas! Though it was a holiday week, our dramas’ ratings weren’t really affected. At the beginning of the week, Penthouse inched even closer to 30 percent. And later in the week, True Beauty and Mr. Queen reached their highest ratings so far of 3.9 percent and 11.8 percent respectively.
Some shows got pre-empted, but for something like Uncanny Counter, which has done incredibly well, I doubt that will hurt its numbers. Finally, we had Secret Royal Inspector premiere to 5 percent and Kairos finish off with 3.3 percent. It’s sad to see shows fizzle out with low ratings, but what can you do? The Big Three broadcasters just haven’t had much luck lately.
Drama viewership ratings for the week of Dec. 21-27, 2020
Ep. # | Station | Rating | |
Monday, Dec. 21 | |||
Secret Royal Inspector | 1 | KBS | 5.0% |
Kairos | 15 | MBC | 2.7% |
Penthouse | 16 | SBS | 23.7% |
Awaken | 7 | tvN | 3.5% |
Tuesday, Dec. 22 | |||
Secret Royal Inspector | 2 | KBS | 5.8% |
Kairos | 16 | MBC | 3.3% |
Penthouse | 17 | SBS | 24.0% |
Live On | 6 | JTBC | 0.6% |
Awaken | 8 | tvN | 4.1% |
Wednesday, Dec. 23 | |||
Cheat on Me, If You Can | 7 | KBS | 3.8% |
Run On | 3 | JTBC | 2.8% |
True Beauty | 5 | tvN | 3.9% |
Thursday, Dec. 24 | |||
Cheat on Me, If You Can | – | KBS | – |
Run On | 4 | JTBC | 3.0% |
True Beauty | 6 | tvN | 3.3% |
Friday, Dec. 25 | |||
Fly Dragon | – | SBS | – |
Hush | 5 | JTBC | 3.2% |
Saturday, Dec. 26 | |||
Homemade Love Story | 29 | KBS | 30.8% |
Fly Dragon | – | SBS | – |
Hush | 6 | JTBC | 2.6% |
The Uncanny Counter | – | OCN | – |
Mr. Queen | 5 | tvN | 11.3% |
Sunday, Dec. 27 | |||
Homemade Love Story | 30 | KBS | 33.2% |
The Uncanny Counter | – | OCN | – |
Mr. Queen | 6 | tvN | 11.8% |
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Tags: drama ratings
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1 HelenaCan
December 27, 2020 at 6:07 AM
I am very happy for Mr. Queen. Keep it up, show!
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2 merisoo
December 27, 2020 at 10:10 AM
Happy to see my girl Shin Hye Sun's drama doing so well. She deserves it all. I'll have to make room for it in my schedule eventually since it takes a lot for me to watch sageuks.
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soulsearch12
December 28, 2020 at 7:50 PM
Not into the show, but really it's the Shin Hye Sun showcase. She's a great actress!! She's definitely on her way to become a top level actress. The next Gong Hyo Jin: which speaking of, she's said she's a huge fan of GHJ's!
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3 adachiyutos
December 27, 2020 at 10:14 AM
I'm so happy Run On's ratings are slowly increasing. It's obviously not gonna be a smash hit, but I'm glad it's gaining a little niche viewership for itself. I'm really enjoying it. The only other drama I'm watching right now is True Beauty, which is also doing quite well.
I decided to drop Mr Queen as its too slow for me but yay, another hit for Shin Hye Sun. I love her performance but I'm happy just watching clips on youtube haha.
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4 Jezz
December 27, 2020 at 5:16 PM
Run On and Homemade Love Story (which still led the Kdrama weekly ratings for consecutive weeks) also got its highest ratings.
I knew that Penthouse almost reached 25%, not 30%. As I still congratulated to the entire Penthouse cast and crew especially one of the leading Korean female screenwriters, Kim Sun-ok, I'm not disappointed if I will want to get the highest ratings above 25% ratings during the final four episodes before leading to planned second of three seasons.
Look at MBC, it was for sake of ratings losses so by the week of December 28, 2020 - January 3, 2021, there'll be no new MBC drama yet, so we need to rest MBC drama period for short period of time by now to add more space for reality shows, specials and even a movie blocks. This because of Kairos' mediocre overall ratings and defeated by the epic Penthouse (SBS).
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Kairoskat 💐
December 27, 2020 at 8:51 PM
MBC didn't plan any drama for the rest of 2020 after Spies and Kairos. They will comeback next year with 5 dramas. Sure Kairos ratings were low, but don't make it sound like it's the reason MBC doesn't have new dramas. *sigh*
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5 gem28
December 27, 2020 at 8:40 PM
I went into Run On with 0 expectation and was pleasantly surprised. I hope its number rises. As for, Mr. Queen....I am incredibly happy for Shin Hye Sun...she has hard carried 3 shows now and still people brushed her off. These numbers will certainly change that.
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6 Kairoskat 💐
December 27, 2020 at 8:42 PM
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7 Kairoskat 💐
December 27, 2020 at 8:44 PM
Kairos final ep rating is homage to 10:33, a very important number in the drama. Both ep 16 part 1 and 2 got 3.3% 😎.
I'm sad Kairos ratings never got higher but I am glad the ratings were stable and didn't freefall. Above all I'm just happy the reviews were positive from start to finish 👏🏻.
My current state: in a Kairos daze~ I miss looking forward to new eps each week 😢
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bong-soo
December 28, 2020 at 7:56 AM
@katakwasabi Kaoroskat,
KAIROS was a well written and well acted drama beginning to end. That in itself is an accomplishment.
You did a great job promoting the show. If MBC is smart it would hire you! Now for the ratings:
1. KAIROS found its audience (around 3%) in the first 2 episodes and they stayed with it. Its average rating for its run is 3.0%.
2. Comparing with the other 2 MBC dramas I watched in 2020.
The average rating for 365: REPEAT THE YEAR is 4.3% and for THE GAME: TOWARDS ZERO it is 3.4%.
I enjoyed all three of the dramas but KAIROS was the best imo.
O/T one of the ratings mysteries of the year for me are the abysmal ratings for Yoon Shi-yoon's TRAIN (average rating 1.276%). I thought it was a terrific drama but what can you do.
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miss h
December 28, 2020 at 8:13 AM
I'm sad not to have a new episode today. I hope to see the writer in another drama.
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8 Moonlight
December 28, 2020 at 3:50 AM
kairos was a big flop rating wise....netizens slept on that "great" drama. If Kairos was that great, how come the rating was too low.
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knewbie
December 28, 2020 at 3:59 AM
Well, Beethoven is a lot less popular than BTS...
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OldLawyer
December 28, 2020 at 7:17 AM
I have a niece who would say "Of course BTS is more popular".
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knewbie
December 28, 2020 at 7:31 AM
I'm not a BTS fan but even I would say "of course BTS is more popular than Beethoven".
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knewbie
December 28, 2020 at 9:59 PM
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gem28
December 28, 2020 at 4:15 PM
He was the best in his field and quite popular in his era so that isn't a good example
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knewbie
December 28, 2020 at 10:00 PM
I'm not sure how popular Beethoven was in the early 19th century, especially as he seemed to have had quite a hard time getting some of his compositions accepted by his peers. But Beethoven being something like 'the best in his field' is precisely the point. Right now Beethoven's music and BTS's music are equally accessible - we can buy and stream both easily. However, just as Penthouse is watched by far more people than Kairos, BTS's music is purchased, streamed and listened to far more often than Beethoven's. If this fact apparently does not negate the greatness of Beethoven's music, then it should also have no bearing on whether or not Kairos is a great show.
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OldLawyer
December 28, 2020 at 11:57 PM
Beethoven was deeply respected, so much so that people traveled great distances to consult him- like Rossini who had such a traumatic time with his first opera that he traveled hundreds of miles to talk to Beethoven about whether or not he should continue with opera or try something else. Beethoven told him to stick with opera- and Rossini did, for which we should all be deeply grateful.
I could not imagine anyone wanting to travel great distances to discuss such serious matters with BTS (although they all seem to be very intelligent). Unless. of course, it was my favorite niece.
I would say that the audience for Kairos is different from the audience for Penthouse- both shows are great but in different ways. Ratings measure the size of the audience which is not a true measure of quality- although a show with extremely low ratings is probably not that good. MR. QUEEN is actually getting very high ratings yet has less than 35% of the audience for HOMEMADE LOVE STORY. Is HOMEMADE LOVE STORY that much better? Not at all, MR. QUEEN is much better in terms of quality. Only one network still does weekend family dramas and right now the weekender being broadcast is HOMEMADE LOVE STORY: The audience share is simply what happens when someone holds a monopoly.
My point is that ratings are not irrelevant but that they are an incomplete measure of a show.
knewbie
December 29, 2020 at 12:53 AM
@oldawyer Your description of Rossini's meeting with Beethoven is a bit different from what appears to be Rossini's own account: http://www.classicalmusicguide.com/viewtopic.php?t=13858
gem28
December 29, 2020 at 9:08 AM
Every composer has had their struggles. Its not like BTS released their song and boom, they became one of the most famous, popular Band in the world landing a billboard number 1. They hustled for the longest time under a new company, not the big 3. The fact is Beethoven was popular, highly respected in 19th century when the music he made was one of the popular genre. You can't just compare BTS who cater to a whole different generation of listeners to Bethoven who is well dead, was deaf in later parts of his life, was eccentric and particular about the music he made aka liked to pick his battles wisely and from a whole different era...by the way, it may not make it to pop music charts but classical music is neither dead nor is Bethoven's music unpopular. His music has stood the test of time. So, its still not a good example. And I am not dragging Kairos in the middle of this, its ridiculous to even equate Bethoven's music to the show. I merely pointed out that the comparison didn't sound well in terms of the point you tried to make.
gem28
December 29, 2020 at 9:15 AM
One more thing, classical music actually does need an educated listener...no shade to pop/rap/hiphop genre but it is what it is. Every piece is different when different person plays it, and hence its sort of no longer holds the popularity. Its easy listening to a song playing on like same fundamental four chords. But you need to listen, learn, hear and be able to differential nuances of chords, notes when you hear classical. I can't imagine the tiktok loving world we live in to take time to develop that hence its also one reason of classical being not the most popular genre anymore. Patience, focus isn't what sells these days. I love both genre but it took me far more years to understand and truly appreciate classical then it did with modern music genres.
knewbie
December 29, 2020 at 8:29 PM
@gem28 If you read my comments again you'll find that I made no comparison whatsoever between Beethoven and BTS in terms of quality. My point was almost entirely about numbers. The OP said Kairos cannot be a great show because a relatively small number of people watched it. I was simply arguing that you can't equate numbers with greatness/quality, based on the following example: in the present day, Beethoven's music is still regarded as great even though relatively few people listen to it.
I only mentioned Penthouse and BTS because it follows from the OP's point that Kairos is inferior to Penthouse. My point, on the other hand, is that whatever the relative popularity of various dramas, films, pieces of music, etc, there is no direct correlation to quality. Personally I much prefer Beethoven to BTS, but as I mentioned above, of course BTS is much more popular than Beethoven, and there are many good reasons why they are: they belong in the field of popular music, aimed at the masses; the songs are catchy; the members are amazing performers; etc.
I see your point about Beethoven being very different from BTS. As someone who thinks that Beethoven is among the greatest and most innovative of composers, I totally agree that it requires more effort to truly appreciate his music. But sometimes music is just music; classical music has been known to get into the pop charts; and BTS's songs are actually pretty complex and IMO thoughtfully composed.
Also, as I also mentioned earlier, Beethoven's career was not exactly smooth-sailing. You might want to have a look at the link I provided in my reply to OldLawyer's comment. Also, I was thinking of his late piano sonatas and string quartets, which were not only criticised during his lifetime, but failed to gain acceptance till quite a while after his death.
mindy🐌
December 28, 2020 at 4:21 AM
Let's just get rid of all film/television/media critics and awards shows because who needs them when popularity = quality, amirite?
And if you watch something that isn't #1 in ratings you're an idiot.
Also Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1 is a better film than The Artist, or something.
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Z❄️Ra
December 28, 2020 at 9:41 AM
Quantity does not always guarantee quality.
Maybe you should see it for yourself and check if it is good or not.
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gem28
December 28, 2020 at 4:16 PM
Lots of good dramas have low ratings, loads of terrible ones have high ratings......quality doesn't always get the numbers...why not just watch and judge it yourself
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soulsearch12
December 28, 2020 at 7:55 PM
Honestly ratings wise, in Korea, its fascinating. I see American shows that get similar/abysmal ratings but they get renewed. Because the companies know that in the long term, its better to have a catalogue of shows people still talk about from years on end. Look at Melo is Me, even with its niche viewership, the song from that show blew up into a sizable hit. Plus, Korea doesn't produce as many K-dramas as it used to. There's probably like 30 scripted dramas now.
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9 theimprintonmynose
December 28, 2020 at 6:14 AM
I'm really enjoying Mr. Queen. Ep 6 was great.
After watching ep 5-6 I'm convinced bong hwan won't ever fall for the king. Dude is straight as an arrow and the mere suggestion of a "first day" with cheoljong disgusted him. And if he starts to have feelings for the king because the body he's inhabiting was in love with the king, then that would feel like cheating because those feelings didn't develop from bong hwan naturally. So I'm fine if they don't get together. I would still watch it for the friendship and platonic bromance.
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Hanabi
December 28, 2020 at 9:07 AM
I disagree. I think Bong Hwan very well could fall in love with Cheoljong if he gets to know him. Of course the first night creeped him out, he knew nothing about Cheoljong, he just travelled back in time and he only ever had relationships with females. As for So Yong, I am not sure yet her love was that deep, we will see in the flashbacks. For sure, if they make Bong Hwan fall in love with the king because of her body "remembers" those feelings, then that is a big no from me. Bottom line is: episode 5 and 6 haven't sinked the BH & CJ ship, it is stronger than ever because we know now that CJ never loved So Yong but is interested in Bong Hwan.
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10 OldLawyer
December 28, 2020 at 7:10 AM
Go MR. QUEEN.
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11 Beans007
December 28, 2020 at 2:36 PM
Oh Mr Queen, let me count the ways I love you. You make me lol and roll. I just dropped by to fangirl on you with other appreciative beanies.
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