'Reborn Rich' viewership ratings hit 19.4 percent in three weeks

Poster for JTBC drama series ″Reborn Rich″ (2022) [RAKUTEN VIKI]

JTBC series “Reborn Rich” starring Song Joong-ki hit 19.4 percent in viewership ratings in three weeks since launching, a new record for a K-drama this year, according to analytics company Nielsen Korea on Monday.

Episode 8 of the corporate drama series aired Sunday night, seeing a steep increase in viewership ratings when compared to 6.1 percent for the first episode on Nov. 18.

The number is higher than the viewership rating seen by the hit ENA series “Extraordinary Attorney Woo,” which aired this summer. No Korean television series has surpassed the 20-percent mark this year, but considering that “Reborn Rich” is set to be a 16-episode series, it may well have time to become the first and only K-drama series of 2022 to pass the mark.

Trailing behind “Reborn Rich” and “Extraordinary Attorney Woo,” this year’s Korean mini-series with the highest viewership ratings were: tvN’s “The Queen’s Umbrella” (16.9 percent); SBS’s “One Dollar Lawyer” (15.2 percent); tvN’s “Our Blues” (14.6 percent); MBC’s “Big Mouth” (13.7 percent); SBS’s “Again My Life” (12 percent); SBS’s “Business Proposal” (11.6 percent) and tvN’s “Twenty-Five Twenty-One” (11.5 percent). A miniseries usually consists of around 16 episodes.

“Reborn Rich” launched on Nov. 18 on Korean television channel JTBC. Actor Song plays the lead role, a loyal employee who works for the large conglomerate Sunyang Group but is betrayed and murdered by his company. He wakes up to find himself reincarnated in the body of the youngest grandson of the Sunyang Group head.

The show has been receiving positive reviews for incorporating Korea’s important modern history events such as the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997, the dot-com bubble and land development projects.

BY HALEY YANG [yang.hyunjoo@joongang.co.kr]