The new tvN historical drama Captivating the King certainly captivated the South Korean audience last night, grabbing close to double the ratings of its previous episode.
Nielsen Korea numbers show Captivating the King earned 6.01 percent of the viewership nationwide, which is almost double its 3.28 percent for Episode 1.
The Jo Jung Suk-led drama experienced similar ratings in Seoul, garnering 5.96 percent of the audience share, which is a substantial increase from its previous episode’s 3.55 percent viewership.
With Captivating the King getting off to a strange start on January 21st with two episodes airing back-to-back and, thus, the second episode seeing a ratings drop, it is only going forward we will begin to see what the true ratings are for this interesting historical drama.
The ratings last night then were just the start.
Hopefully those future ratings will be in the 6.0 percent range or higher as well as, from just the first four episodes alone, if you like historical dramas this one could turn out to be one of the best of 2024.
Captivating the King‘s international audience
Meanwhile, the period melodrama also seems to be maintaining a steady audience with international viewers and with solid ratings along with that.
My Drama List users are rating the Korean drama an 8.1 out of 10, (as I always explain, anything above an 8.0 is a very good rating for that site), while comments from viewers — especially about the acting and cinematography — are overwhelmingly positive.
According to Flix Patrol, Captivating the King is also currently in the Top 10 in 19 countries on Netflix, including Thailand, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Indonesia, Kuwait, Greece, and Bahrain, with an average position of 5.9 out of 10.
Captivating the King stars the stellar cast of Jo Jung Suk, Shin Se Kyung, and Lee Shin Young, and with superb performances by the entire cast, but specifically by the two main leads whose chemistry is off the charts.
If you are as hooked on the Korean drama as I am, you can watch the next episode of Captivating the King on tvN next Saturday at 21:20 (KST), with Netflix streaming it internationally.
Fingers crossed its ratings smash it.