Whisper started the last week of April with its usual strong ratings over 15 % but it suddenly dropped to 11.9 % in the following episode. This is an unprecedented development, especially that 11.9 % is the lowest rating of the drama to date. Even its rating for the Seoul area and the ones based on TNMS data also dropped to an all-time low. Rebel: Thief Who Stole the People, in contrast, gain 0.3 percentage point (pp) in its even episode to conclude the week at 12.4 %. Perfect Wife also recorded an increase—although just a slight change—from 4.8 to 4.9 %.

The ratings for the The Liar and His Lover is still hovering at 1.5 %. Still not a good news for tvN, but at least the numbers didn’t go below 1 %.

In the middle of the week Mystery Queen maintain its dominance over its rivals although its even episode rating dropped to 10. 5 %. Radiant Office, meanwhile, obtained 6.8 % for both odd and even episodes while Saimdang, Light’s Diary managed to pull off a 0.6 percentage point increase to end the week at 8.4 %. Saimdang‘s final episode will air this week with a sure over-10% average ratings for its 28 episodes. That’s still a decent average for a drama that failed to meet huge expectations.

Over at the weekend, tvN didn’t air an episode of Chicago Typewriter on Friday due to the presidential debates but aired instead two episodes on Saturday. The pre-emption somehow caused a negative effect as the odd episode rating went below 2 %. Fortunately, the following episode recovered and posted nearly 2.5 %. JTBC did not follow tvN’s episode cancellation move for Man to Man, which was definitely affected by the debates. The drama’s third episode rating dropped to 2.5 % from 4 % in the previous episode. Although it managed to gain about 1 percentage point in the next episode, the very impressive momentum it build in its first week is now lost.

Tunnel remains a strong contender in the ratings game and is closely following the success of Voice as far as the ratings are concerned. Its odd episode recorded 4.9 % and increased by 0.45 percentage point in the even episode. It is now leading the weekly ranking for all cable dramas included in our list.

Ratings Summary: April 24-30, 2017 (The Change in Percentage Points, or CPP, is equal to Even Episode Rating minus Odd Episode Rating). All rating values are expressed in %.

Date Drama Odd Episode Even Episode CPP Apr 24-25 Perfect Wife 4.8 4.9 0.1 Apr 24-25 Rebel: Thief Who Stole the People 12.1 12.4 0.3 Apr 24-25 Whisper 15.5 11.9 -3.6 Apr 24-25 The Liar and His Lover 1.384 1.592 0.208 Apr 26-27 Mystery Queen 10.7 10.5 -0.2 Apr 26-27 Radiant Office 6.8 6.8 0 Apr 26-27 Saimdang, Light's Diary 7.8 8.4 0.6 Apr 28-29 Man to Man 2.527 3.462 0.935 Apr 29 Chicago Typewriter 1.769 2.449 0.68 Apr 29-30 Tunnel 4.921 5.375 0.454

Weekly Ranking

April 24-30 Ranking. This ranking is based on the average nationwide ratings of the episodes of the drama that have aired so far. Rating data from Nielsen Korea.

Rank Free-to-Air Networks Cable Networks Drama Rating Drama Rating 1 Whisper 14.4 Tunnel 4.224 2 Rebel: Thief Who Stole the People 11.6 Man to Man 3.530 3 Mystery Queen 10.28 Chicago Typewriter 2.272 4 Saimdang, Light's Diary 10.26 The Liar and His Lover 1.514 5 Radiant Office 5.7 6 Perfect Wife 4.9

Statistics

Perfect Wife

Average ratings: 4.9 %

Highest rating: 6.4 % (episode 9)

Lowest rating: 3.5% (episodes 5 & 7)

Average change in percentage points: + 0.06 %

Rebel:Thief Who Stole the People

Average ratings: 11.6 %

Highest rating: 13.9 % (episode 18)

Lowest rating: 8.8 % (episode 16)

Average change in percentage points: + 0.14 %

Whisper

Average ratings: 14.4 %

Highest rating: 16.0 % (episode 8)

Lowest rating: 11.9 % (episode 10)

Average change in percentage points: – 0.22

The Liar and His Lover

Average ratings: 1.514 %

Highest rating: 1.839 % (episode 4)

Lowest rating: 1.267 % (episode 3)

Average change in percentage points: + 0.006 %

Mystery Queen

Average ratings: 10.3 %

Highest rating: 11.2 % (episode 1)

Lowest rating: 7.7 % (episode 5)

Average change in percentage points: – 0.10 %

Radiant Office

Average ratings: 5.7 %

Highest rating: 7.4 % (episode 7)

Lowest rating: 3.8 % (episodes 1 and 2)

Average change in percentage points: + 0.23 %

Saimdang, Light’s Diary

Average ratings: 10.3 %

Highest rating: 16.3 % (episode 1)

Lowest rating: 6.1 % (episode 24)

Average change in percentage points: – 0.30 % (biggest loser)

Man to Man

Average ratings: 3.530 %

Highest rating: 4.074 % (episode 2)

Lowest rating: 2.527 % (episode 3)

Average change in percentage points: – 0.198 %

Chicago Typewriter

Average ratings: 2.272 %

Highest rating: 2.822 % (episode 2)

Lowest rating: 1.769 % (episode 7)

Average change in percentage points: – 0.029

Tunnel