‘Uncontrollably Fond’ Continues To Fall In Viewership Ratings After Episodes Three And Four Air But Captures Attention Of Chinese Audiences

Right now on the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS), Uncontrollably Fond is playing in the time slot originally taken by the most-popular K-drama of 2016, Descendants of the Sun. It is the television company’s second attempt and emulating the success of the epic series starring Song Joong Ki and Song Hye Kyo. They first tried with Master: God of Noodles, which started out with decent viewership ratings upon its debut. Unfortunately, viewership remained about the same and under double-digits throughout the K-drama’s entire airing. Reportedly, reasons for Master: God of Noodles not following-up well to Descendants of the Sun include comparing its melodramatic seriousness to its title.

As mentioned above, KBS is attempting to emulate Descendants of the Sun‘s popularity with Uncontrollably Fond, and they are pulling out all the stops, which includes a star-studded cast, simultaneous casting with the actual Korean time slot, and a lot of local and international promotion. As a result, viewership started out excellent, but since then, it has dropped.

Now after airing Episodes 3 and 4, viewership ratings for Uncontrollably Fond continue to decrease. Yet, KBS may not be concerned just yet because it is capturing the attention of Chinese audiences.

Starring Kim Woo Bin and Bae Suzy (better known simply as Suzy), Uncontrollably Fond was set to become the next big KBS K-drama after Descendants of the Sun. Along with simultaneous airings in China, North America, and South America usually just one hour after it airs in South Korea, it had all the makings of being successful — though the viewership ratings provided by TNS Media Korea and Nielsen Korea tell a different story. By the end of the fourth episode, TNmS Ratings for the nation went from 11.5 percent for the first episode to 9.4 percent for the fourth episode. Nielsen Korea was nicer, as it was 12.5 percent for the first episode to 11.0 percent for the fourth. The same drop was also relatively seen among viewerships for the Seoul National Capital Area.

Despite the dropping viewership ratings in South Korea, KBS may not be concerned at this moment given the fact it has caught the attention of Chinese audiences. According to The Korea Herald, Uncontrollably Fond attracted more than 40 million paid viewers to Youku Tudou, one of China’s biggest online video platforms. Public relations company 3HW made announcement on the matter.

“On the first day of broadcast, there was an overflow of traffic and the server of Youku crashed. Also, real-time replies from viewers flooded (the site) to (the point that) they even interfered with the screen.”

Not only that, but searches for Uncontrollably Fond on China’s social media site Weibo increased from 500 million to 17.6 billion after its debut. That is a huge deal given the fact each episode is being distributed at $400,000. It is officially the most-expensive Korean show to be exported to China even surpassing Descendants of the Sun.

Uncontrollably Fond airs on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 9:55 p.m. KST on KBS. It will air simultaneously in China, North America, and South America, too. For those in China, it will stream on Youku Tudou. For North and South America, it will air one hour after the Korean airtime, for free with ads, on DramaFever, but is also available on Viki, pending region.

[Image via Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) Promotions of Uncontrollably Fond]