Park Seo Joon concludes run as 6th highest-rated cable drama of all time

Park Seo Joon's Itaewon Class concluded its 8-week successful run on Saturday night with a record-high nationwide Nielse...

• Stars Show Support At SISTAR19’s Comeback Listening Party
• BTS’s RM And V Receive Support From Friends As They Enlist In The Military
• Watch: Park Seo Joon And Han So Hee’s “Gyeongseong Creature” Announces Premiere Date In Exciting Teaser

Park Seo Joon's Itaewon Class concluded its 8-week successful run on Saturday night with a record-high nationwide Nielsen TV rating of 16.548 percent, making the average rating of its 16 episodes equal to 11.832 percent.These figures make Itaewon Class the all-time sixth highest-rated Korean drama in cable television in terms of both peak and average ratings. Among JTBC dramas, the series is no. 2, second only to the smash hit 2018-2019 drama SKY Castle.The following is the list of the 10 highest-rated Korean dramas in cable TV of all time based on nationwide average ratings (as of March 22, 2020). See the updated Top 20 here.

1. Mr. Sunshine (tvN) – 13.0%
2. Goblin (tvN) – 12.9%
3. SKY Castle (JTBC) – 12.5%
4. Reply 1988 (tvN) – 12.4%
5. Crash Landing on You (JTBC) – 12.2%
6. Itaewon Class (JTBC) – 11.8%
7. 100 Days My Prince (tvN) – 9.0%
8. Hotel del Luna (tvN) – 8.9%
9. Signal (tvN) – 8.8%
10. Encounter (tvN) – 8.5%

Meanwhile, the list below ranks the 10 highest-rated cable dramas of all time based on nationwide peak or highest single-episode ratings (as of March 22, 2020):

1. SKY Castle (JTBC) – 23.8%
2. Crash Landing On You (tvN) – 21.7%
3. Reply 1988 (tvN) – 18.8%
4. Goblin (tvN) – 18.7%
5. Mr. Sunshine (tvN) – 18.1%
6. Itaewon Class (JTBC) – 16.5%
7. 100 Days My Prince (tvN) – 14.4%
8. Signal (tvN) – 12.5%
9. The Lady In Dignity (JTBC) – 12.1%
10. Hotel del Luna (tvN) – 12.0%

The success of Itaewon Class marks the second time JTBC was able to broadcast a breakout series in the first quarter of the year. The series followed in the footsteps of SKY Castle, which ended in February 2019.Meanwhile, Itaewon Class is the second cable drama that achieved remarkable double-digit ratings in 2020. tvN’s Crash Landing on You ended last February with a peak rating of 21.7 percent, becoming the second series in cable TV to surpass the 20% mark.

Itaewon Class tells the story of ex-convict Park Sae Ro Yi (Park Seo Joon) whose life has been turned upside down after he gets expelled from school for punching a bully and his father is killed in an accident. Following his father's steps, he opens his bar-restaurant DanBam (Sweet Night) in Itaewon and, along with his manager and staff, strive towards success and reaching greater heights.Directed by PD Kim Sung Yoon (Love in the Moonlight), Itaewon Class is the TV adaptation of a popular webtoon by Go Gwang-jin, who also wrote the script for the drama. It is available for streaming on Netflix.