Captivating the King Ep 8 ratings rise during Lunar New Year holiday – 2 more episodes still to air this weekend

Captivating the King, Ep 8 ratings see solid increase nationwide and in Seoul

With all of South Korea currently in the middle of a three-day holiday for the Lunar New Year, you would expect dramas like Captivating the King to be losing viewers left and right.

Especially as much of Korea is currently spending time with their families, and that often means not watching their regular TV shows, or watching special shows created for the national holiday instead.

That being said, Captivating the King, Episode 8 ratings are out, and the Korean Lunar New Year has not negatively impacted the episode as the K-drama’s ratings rose again tonight after experiencing a drop on Friday night.

Those ratings via Nielsen Korea were 4.73 percent nationwide, which is a solid increase from Episode 7’s rating of 4.16 percent.

The Korean historical drama also experienced a small rise in its ratings in Seoul, with Captivating the King, Episode 8 ratings in the capital city at 4.86 percent — a small increase from Episode 7’s 4.67 percent.

Just like Friday night, both ratings also placed the tvN drama in the #1 spot as the most-watched TV show of the day on cable.

Airing four episodes of Captivating the King hasn’t negatively affected the K-drama

With tvN deciding to air four episodes of Captivating the King instead of two to celebrate the Lunar New Year holiday this weekend, there was also a possibility that may negatively impact its ratings.

So far, at least, that does not seem to have been the case, with the slight drop in ratings both on Friday night and earlier tonight more likely due to the national holiday weekend itself, and nothing to do with the tvN drama at all.

Captivating the King stars the superb cast of Jo Jung Suk, Shin Se Kyung, and Lee Shin Young, with Jo Jung Suk in particular being spoken about as Daesang (Grand Prize) material, as his performance in the drama has been so skilled.

The next two episodes of Captivating the King will air on tvN tomorrow evening back-to-back, with Netflix streaming them internationally.

The Korean historical drama ends its run on March 3rd.

Check out the tvN trailer (in Korean only) for a hint of what is to come.

 

About Michelle Topham

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, J-pop and music news for over a decade.