Korean Drama Hits Record 14.6% Viewership

MBC's Friday-Saturday drama 'A Royal Affair in the 21st Century' is gaining immense popularity both domestically and internationally, recording its highest viewership rating of 14.6%. The drama has achieved global success, entering the TOP10 on Disney+ in the US for 21 consecutive days, and is currently recording high viewership ratings in 47 countries.

The 8th episode, aired on the 2nd, broke its own record with viewership ratings of 11.6% in the Seoul metropolitan area and 11.2% nationwide. Notably, the minute-by-minute highest viewership rating soared to 14.6%, and it also achieved a 5% rating in the 2049 target demographic, ranking first among all Saturday programs.

The drama is being praised for its successful combination of a unique setting of a '21st-century constitutional monarchy' and the outstanding chemistry between IU and Byun Woo-seok. Despite some controversies regarding acting skills and historical inaccuracies, these issues have not significantly impacted its box office success.

'A Royal Affair in the 21st Century' is recognized as a significant drama where a domestic company has secured the IP (intellectual property rights). MBC prioritized IP acquisition and sold the content to Disney+ instead of Netflix, a strategy also interpreted as a move to counter Netflix's dominance. The drama's production cost is in the 30 billion won range.

Although MBC recorded an operating loss of 27.6 billion won last year, it is anticipating an improvement in its performance through 'A Royal Affair in the 21st Century'. An official stated, "It seems to be the highest revenue ever for a drama produced by MBC to date," and described the continued sell-out of advertisements amidst a difficult advertising market as a "miracle."