Kim Bujang hits 21.6% ratings, tops Netflix non-English shows chart with 10.5M views

Four episodes in, Kim Bujang has a 21.6% national household viewership rating (Nielsen Korea). It's the fastest any SBS Friday-Saturday drama has crossed the 20% mark.

Episode 1 opened at 9.5%. Episode 2 jumped to 15.7%. Episode 3 hit 18.8%. Episode 4 cleared 21.6%. That trajectory made Kim Bujang the first mini-series to reach 20%-plus in roughly two years—faster than SBS hits Fiery Priest, Stove League, and Penthouse 2. The 2049 demo averaged 7.6% with a peak of 8.8%, the highest across all channels in approximately two years.

Domestically it's one story. Globally it's another. For the week of June 29 to July 5, Kim Bujang logged 10.5 million views on Netflix and ranked first among all non-English shows. The show first broadcast on June 26; it took three days to reach third place in the non-English category, and by week two it was at the top. It entered the top 10 in 79 countries and ranked first in 11 of them, including Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Bolivia, and Peru.

GoodData Corporation's Fundex placed Kim Bujang first in TV-OTT integrated drama topicality for the week of June 29–July 5, and first in the TV drama category as well. Lead actor So Ji-sub topped the integrated drama cast topicality chart for the same period.

The production team said, "It is most meaningful that the warm love of domestic viewers is extending to the interest of global viewers," and added: "We are grateful to viewers who empathize with the work beyond countries and languages."