South Korean TV shows take over the Netflix Top 10
The ongoing Korean drama Resident Playbook only premiered on April 12th, and it has already climbed to the #3 spot on the Netflix Top 10 Non-English TV Shows chart during its second week of streaming (the period April 17th – April 23rd, 2025).
According to the latest data from Netflix released on Tuesday, Resident Playbook is currently sitting at #3 on the chart due to 2.8 million views last week alone, for a total of 15 million hours viewed.
The Korean medical-themed drama series was also in the Top 10 in 14 countries, and at #1 in six of those — Hong Kong, Indonesia (#1), South Korea (#1), Sri Lanka, Maldives, Malaysia (#1), Oman, the Philippines (#1), Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan (#1), and Vietnam (#1).
The K-drama is one of four other Korean shows that are currently sitting on the Top 10 list — When Life Gives You Tangerines (#4), Weak Hero: Class 1 (#6), Karma (#7) and the Korean variety show Kian’s Bizarre B&B (#8).
Resident Playbook sits just ahead of When Life Gives You Tangerines with its 2.8 million views compared to the latter’s 2.7 million.
Yep, it was an excellent week for Korean IPs.
Resident Playbook details
The new hospital-themed drama is a spin-off of the hit K-drama Hospital Playlist, which itself is the second in the ‘Wise Life’ series after Prison Playbook.
Interestingly, actor Jung Kyung Ho has now appeared in all three as he had a guest role in Episode 4 of Resident Playbook last week.
The Korean drama stars Go Youn Jung, Shin Si Ah, Han Ye Ji, Kang You Seok, and Jung Joon Won, and follows the trials and tribulations of a group of young obstetrics and gynaecology residents working at Yulje Medical Center.
The next episode of Resident Playbook hits Netflix on Friday, April 26th.
It also airs on tvN in South Korea every Friday and Saturday evening, where the Korean drama is also seeing rapidly rising ratings.
Update: Sixth episode of Resident Playbook earns highest rating so far — still in Netflix Top 10