K-Drama ‘Yong Pal’ Is Dominating The Ratings Charts With Double-Digit Numbers

When it comes to Korean dramas (more commonly known as K-dramas) today, it is considered good if it can earn a double-digit teen number for its viewership. So far, the one K-drama that seems to have gotten the formula right this year is Producer starring Kim Soo Hyun, Cha Tae Hyun, Gong Hyo Jin, and IU (Lee Ji Eun). By the end of the K-drama, it had an average national viewership of 18 percent. Yet, some K-dramas just can’t seem to catch on despite its casting. This is the case for The Time We Were Not In Love starring Ha Ji Won and Lee Jin Wook. Over the course of 15 episodes, not one of them have achieved double-digit ratings in both Seoul and nationwide viewership. Due to these numbers, this K-drama may be the biggest failure of 2015 thus far.

To be fair, there are still a little over four months left until the year is up. There may be a K-drama that comes along that fails even more than The Time We Were Not In Love. As for a K-drama that surpasses Producer, it may have arrived as Yong Pal has earned double-digit viewership upon its premiere. The amazing thing is that Yong Pal has aired only four episodes so far and it is just two percent shy of the highest rating Producer has earned for its highest-rated episode.

According to KdramaStars, the fourth episode of Yong Pal, which aired on August 13, 2015, racked up a 16.3 percent nationwide viewership. This accomplishment also makes the K-drama the highest-rated weekday series of 2015. However, the most important detail is the fact that the increase is actually quite large from the third episode as shown in the list or ratings provided by AsianWiki. If the 16.3 percent is from TNmS, the percentage increase was about four percent. If its AGB, the increase was about two percent. Take note that it is a big deal when the percentage increase is over one percent. Anything more than two percent is phenomenal.

Yong Pal, which stars Joo Won and Kim Tae Hee, will run 20 episodes starting on August 5, 2015 and will end on October 8, 2015. So far, four episodes have aired. As for upcoming episodes, they will air on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 9:55 p.m. KST on Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS). For those who don’t have access to SBS, Yong Pal is free to watch (with ads) on DramaFever.

[Image via Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) Promotions]