Viewing Figures: ‘Our Golden Days’ Ends On A High; ‘The Young And The Restless’ Reaches 2-Year High
South Korea: The KBS drama Our Golden Days concluded its 50-episode run on Jan. 25. Airing every Saturday and Sunday, the drama pulled in its highest ratings ever for its finale, with 20.5 percent of viewership. Monthly viewership for Our Golden Days also increased, achieving 18.6 percent.
Meanwhile, Love Me on JTBC wasn’t as fortunate in the ratings. Airing two episodes every Friday, the series averaged just 1.53 percent of viewership in South Korea before it concluded on Jan. 23. On Jan. 2, Love Me hit a ratings low of just 1.1 percent for that night’s second episode.
Netflix: On the streaming side, the Netflix original romantic comedy limited series Can This Love Be Translated? scored 5.8 million views throughout January, more than any non-English-language series on the platform. The series remained in the top three for three weeks and peaked during the week of Jan. 19 with 9 million views. On the other hand, the second season of Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku, acquired from TV Tokyo, achieved only 0.9 million views, lower than any non-English language series on the platform.
United States: Soap operas in the United States saw increases across the board in January. During the week of Jan. 26, The Young and the Restless reached a two-year high with 3.46 million viewers, its biggest figures since the week of Nov. 20, 2023. Throughout the month, the daytime drama averaged 3.01 million viewers, an improvement from its December figures that helps maintain its position as the highest-rated soap opera in America. Trailing slightly behind, The Bold and the Beautiful scored 2.93 million viewers during the week of Jan. 26, its highest ratings in nearly three years. Over the course of January, The Bold and the Beautiful averaged 2.65 million viewers.
Despite two strong lead-ins, Beyond the Gates remains the lowest-rated daytime drama in the United States, averaging 1.65 million viewers. This figure is more than one million viewers fewer than that of The Young and the Restless. Still, during the week of Jan. 26, America’s newest soap reached a series high of 1.89 million viewers, topping the ratings of its premiere week nearly one year ago. The longest-running American soap opera in production, ABC’s General Hospital, reached a four-year high, achieving its highest ratings since the week of Jan. 10, 2022. The daytime drama averaged 2.04 million viewers throughout January, topping its December figures and peaking during the week of Jan. 26 with 2.26 million viewers.
