Viewing Figures: ‘Recipe for Love’ remains top-rated drama in South Korea
South Korea: The KBS2 drama Recipe for Love has been dominating the ratings in South Korea since its debut in January. Airing every Saturday and Sunday, Recipe for Love averaged 13.75% of South Korean viewership in April. This figure is down slightly from 15% of viewership in March. The MBC TV drama Perfect Crown trailed slightly behind Recipe for Love in the ratings, achieving 9.86% of viewership. Completing its run at the end of the month, JTBC’s Still Shining scored only 0.8% of viewership, far below its competitors.
Netflix: On the streaming side, the limited series If Wishes Could Kill dominated the ratings, scoring 5.15 million views. The series ranked in the top 10 for a total of fours weeks. Trailing slightly behind, the limited series Sold Out on You trailed slightly behind, achieving 4.2 million views, remaining in Netflix’s top 10 charts for four weeks. Toriko X One Piece Collaboration Special: Season 1 and BTS The Comeback Live ranked at the bottom of the streaming ratings. Both series averaged just 1.1 million views.
United States: For more than 30 years, the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless has dominated the ratings. While soaps scored much higher ratings in the 80’s and 90’s than today, viewership is still steady, and The Young and the Restless ranks as the highest-rated with 3.13 million viewers tuning in throughout April. This figure is slightly below the soap’s March average of 3.27 million viewers. Fellow CBS soap The Bold and the Beautiful ranked second, achieving 2.81 million viewers. Impressively, The Bold and the Beautiful is the only daytime drama that didn’t see ratings declines in April.
America’s newest daytime drama Beyond the Gates, remains at the bottom of the ratings. The soap averaged 1.65 million viewers in April, slightly below its March figures of 1.7 million viewers but consistent with its average viewership. While representation for actors of color is welcome and needed on American soap operas, one has to wonder if the effort is too late. The genre has arguably been struggling since the early 2000’s, and realistically, no soap will ever see the figures they achieved in the 70’s and 80’s due to changing viewing habits and the growth of streaming. ABC’s General Hospital achieved 1.96 million viewers, slightly below its March average of 2.13 million viewers.
