[HanCinema's News] Ratings for Current tvN Dramas Underwhelm
By William Schwartz | Published on
"Link: Eat, Love, Kill" began airing for tvN with modest expectations. The mystery romance drama stars Yeo Jin-goo and Mun Ka-young in leading roles, with both actors having decent following. But over time, these expectations have mostly crumbled. With opening ratings of 3.124%, "Link: Eat, Love, Kill" has since dipped down to a ratings low of 1.423% in its second most recent episode which aired on July 18th. Worse, "Link: Eat, Love, Kill" has mostly been forgotten in social media discussion.
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The fantasy romance "Alchemy of Souls" has fared better for tvN, and done well enough for the network to follow through on plans for a ten episode extension. But with the itself underperforming "Arthdal Chronicles" as the main precedent for success, "Alchemy of Souls" has proven surprisingly incapable of surpassing its epic fantasy predecessor. "Arthdal Chronicles" managed ratings as high as 7.7%, while "Alchemy of Souls" has yet to even break into the 7% range.
Much like "Arthdal Chronicles" before it, "Alchemy of Souls" is fairly successful on streaming platforms. But in the competitive current marketplace, that isn't as much of a distinction for South Korean dramas as it used to be. "Alchemy of Souls" has consistently been outperformed in nearly every metric by the quirky legal drama "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" domestically and abroad. The big hit for the upstart network ENA has made tvN look far less innovative than its brand usually implies.
"Alchemy of Souls" is thus left struggling to compete with relatively low profile dramas like "Remarriage and Desires" and even faces serious competition from long completed shows like "She Would Never Know" and "Ghost Doctor" in certain areas. "Alchemy of Souls" isn't doing especially poorly, it just isn't the huge hit tvN was hoping for. And with "Link: Eat, Love Kill" having a similarly weak performance, tvN will likely enter the second half of the year in an unexpectedly weak position.
Written by William Schwartz
William Schwartz
Staff writer. Has been writing articles for HanCinema since 2012, having lived in South Korea from 2011 to 2021. He is currently located in the Portland metropolitan area. William Schwartz can be contacted via william@hancinema.net, and is open to requests for content in future articles.