Latest episode of The Art of Negotiation earns excellent ratings in both regions
With just one episode left to air, it was great news for K-drama The Art of Negotiation, Episode 11 last night as the JTBC series earned its highest Saturday ratings yet.
The K-drama’s nationwide rating, for instance, was 7.18 percent — that is only a small increase from its previous Saturday all-time high viewership of 6.93 percent for Episode 9.
But it still sets The Art of Negotiation up nicely for ending on an all-time high later on tonight when its series finale airs.
The Korean business-themed drama performed even better with viewers in Seoul, as it grabbed 8.03 percent of that region’s viewership — an almost 1.0 percent increase from its previous Saturday high of 7.06 percent (also Episode 9).
International ratings depend on the platform you look at
As I have said many times, I ignore the ratings (and often the comments) from users on My Drama List (MDL), as the platform suffers from a plethora of users who hate thinking when they watch a drama.
That means any drama that is well-written and that requires a viewer to not only understand a more complex situation, but also to be able to think through some of the ramifications of those complexities, suffers from deliberately lowered ratings.
If, of course, the same drama starred an idol whose acting skills are about as good as mine, the drama would be hovering around the 9 out of 10 mark.
So, of course, it is not a shocker to see The Art of Negotiation, a drama that is doing incredibly well with viewers in South Korea and on other platforms, is earning a ridiculously low 7.7 out of 10 on MDL.
But when you have viewers who rate down a drama because “I don’t like the color of Lee Je Hoon’s hair”, there’s no way to fix that level of dumb.
Who is Korean actor Lee Je Hoon? How did he get his start, and which are his most famous roles?
(And yes, I really need to stop looking at or writing about the ratings on My Drama List, as it is one of the most unreliable websites on the Internet when it comes to deciding if an Asian show is worth watching).
Meanwhile, over on Viki where The Art of Negotiation has been streaming since its first episode, the K-drama is earning closer to what it deserves — an incredibly high 9.7 out of 10 via the ratings of almost 1,100 users so far.
Yes, as I have said before, I think that rating is a little too much but, I still prefer that to trolls downrating a series because they don’t understand it.
Viki does also monitor their ratings much more closely than the people who run MDL, so you are less likely to get hundreds/thousands of trolls determined to destroy a drama on that platform.
The final episode of The Art of Negotiation airs later on tonight. And yes, with all the plot twists still hitting thick and fast, it is likely to be a good one.
Watch the Korean drama on Viki.
Update: And yes, as I predicted, not only did the K-drama’s final episode grab record ratings, but it climbed well over the magic double digit mark as well. Yay!
Brit-American journalist based in Austria,. Former radio DJ at 97X WOXY, and Founder/CEO of Leo Sigh. I’ve covered K-drama, K-pop, anime, and manga news for over a decade.