With a recent wave of high-quality dramas, variety shows, and general
programming, Korean broadcast station SBS is
celebrating their recent successes compared with their competition.
According to AGB Nielsen Korea, SBS’s weekly dramas are
putting up a strong showing versus their often more-hyped competitors. Both of
their weekday dramas have pushed out their competition to take the #1 spot in
the living room, with the Monday-Tuesday drama ‘Queen of
Ambition‘ (19.7%) triumphing over MBC‘s ‘The
Horse Healer‘ (18.1%) and KBS‘s ‘Advertisement
Genius Lee Tae Baek‘ (3.9%).
Perhaps most surprisingly of all, the station’s Wednesday-Thursday drama,
‘Wind Blows in Winter‘, has pushed aside the incredibly hyped
‘Iris 2‘ and ‘7th Grade Civil Servant‘ to take
first place with recent ratings of 13.4%, versus 10.8% for ‘Iris 2′ and 12.5%
for ’7th Grade Civil Servant’.
The news is even better on the variety front, where SBS is continuing their
strong showing. On Mondays, ‘Healing Camp‘ is proving to be the
top dog in the race, with its most recent rating of
10.7% trumping its competitors, KBS’s ‘Hello‘ and MBC’s
‘Talk Club Actors‘ (which is said to be on its way out).
On Tuesdays, SBS seems to have a solid start with its brand-new variety
program, ‘Incarnation‘, featuring actress Kim Hee
Sun, MC Shin Dong Yup, and Yoon Jong
Shin. The first episode, aired on the 19th, recorded 8.4% in ratings, beating out its competitor, KBS’s
‘Moonlight Prince‘ (3.5%).
‘Laws of the Jungle 2‘, despite its controversy, maintains
its strong grip on Fridays, handily beating out MBC’s ‘Birth of a Great
Star 3‘ weekly. On Saturdays, ‘Star King‘ has finally
caught up to its eternal rival, MBC’s ‘Infinity Challenge‘,
with both variety shows scoring 13.7% in the past week.
With recent ratings of 16.7%, SBS’s ‘Good Sunday‘ variety block – ‘Running Man‘ and
‘K-Pop Star 2‘ – maintained its lead against KBS and MBC in the
most competitive timeslot of them all, with KBS’s
‘Happy Sunday‘ (‘Qualifications of Men‘ and
‘1 Night 2 Days Season 2‘) scoring 13.0% and MBC’s
‘Dad, Where Are You Going‘ scoring 11.4%.
Even more encouragingly, SBS’s Sunday lineup will soon be buoyed by the addition of the other ‘nation’s MC’, Kang Ho
Dong, leaving interested viewers to speculate on how the current
playing field will change, if at all.
The head of SBS’s variety department, Lee Chang Tae, said ratings were merely the result of good
programming. “We believe that our efforts in creating value-oriented variety
programs and dramas have been accepted by the audience,” he said.
“Although there were benefits from the long-term strikes that took place at our
competition, it is the viewers who determine what to watch. In the end, viewers
choose good programs.”
