It’s no surprise that World Cup coverage is dominating Korean airwaves at the moment, and the Korea-Greece game in particular was a huge draw with viewership ratings of 50.3% (numbers from TNS Media unless otherwise indicated). As a result, its broadcaster SBS is sitting pretty in the ratings game (several other games also drew hefty numbers in the 20% range), but its dramas have been pushed to the back burner.
That meant very good news for KBS’s new drama Baker King Kim Tak-gu, which had virtually no scripted competition on Wednesday night — Bad Guy was pre-empted for soccer and MBC’s Runningwas never meant to be a ratings draw. Accordingly, its numbers leaped up from a 16.3% rating last week to a 28.5% this week. Running only had a 4.1% (AGB Nielsen) despite general praise for its heartwarming storytelling and SBS’s broadcast of the Switzerland-Spain game drew a 16.0%.
Sadly, this may hurt Bad Guy just when it was gaining momentum — after one pre-emption for election coverage, it had improved upon its premiere numbers of 12% and risen to 15.1% last week. Likewise, without two Monday-Tuesday dramas (Coffee House and Giant), MBC’s Dong Yi brought in its highest-ever ratings this week, at 33.3%.
Giant will return on Tuesday, June 22. Bad Guy is scheduled to resume next Wednesday, June 23.Coffee House resumes Monday, June 28. Weekend dramas will depend on the Round of 16.
Via OSEN
Credits: dramabeans