Captivating the King, Episode 7 ratings fall – did tvN make a mistake airing 4 episodes this week?

Jo Jung Suk with a bow and arrow in Captivating the King, Episode 7 -- the tvN still illustrates the article "Captivating the King, Episode 7 ratings fall".
Photo courtesy tvN

First Captivating the King episode of four airs to a drop in ratings

In some K-drama fans’ opinion, tvN made an odd decision airing four episodes of Captivating the King this weekend, when the Korean drama usually gets one episode on Saturday and a second on Sunday.

That decision may have been proven to be a poor one, as the Captivating the King, Episode 7 ratings are out, with the K-drama experiencing a substantial drop in both its nationwide ratings and for those in Seoul.

According to Nielsen Korea, Captivating the King, Episode 7 earned 4.16 percent of the nationwide ratings, which is a drop from its previous episode’s much stronger 5.46 percent viewership.

In Seoul, the tvN period drama earned 4.57 percent of the audience for its seventh episode, also falling from Episode 6’s rating of 5.35 percent.

That being said, however, considering Captivating the King aired on Friday night, a new night for the period drama, and that that Friday night was the first day of the three-day Korean Lunar New Year holiday period, the Korean drama’s ratings were actually strong.

So strong, in fact, Captivating the King, Episode 7 was also in the #1 spot on cable TV for Friday — both nationwide and in the country’s capital.

What will Captivating the King, Episodes 8, 9 and 10 ratings look like?

It will be interesting then to see how the Korean drama performs tonight (Saturday) and Sunday night, as the next three episodes will air on the drama’s usual day, albeit with Sunday getting an extra one.

With Captivating the King growing in popularity over the last couple of weeks, however, and fans still raving about the performance of Jo Jung Suk (definitely Daesang (Grand Prize) worthy at the next tvN awards!), it is likely Episodes 8, 9 and 10 will earn even stronger ratings.

Even with them being aired during the Korean Lunar New Year’s three-day holiday, when many Koreans are spending time with family and friends, and not using it watching TV.

Captivating the King stars the stellar main cast of Jo Jung Suk, Shin Se Kyung, and Lee Shin Young.

The next episode of the Korean drama (Episode 8) will air tonight, Saturday, February 10th, during its regular time slot on tvN, followed by a streaming on Netflix. (And you might want to watch as, apparently, we are finally getting a kiss scene. Yay!).

Episodes 9 and 10 will then air/stream on Sunday,

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.