5 highest-rated Fri-Sat dramas in 2016

Cable networks, especially tvN, are famous for their dramas that air during Fridays and Saturdays at 8:30 pm KST. For last year, tvN and JTBC are the main competitors on this time slot. OCN had 38 Task Force aired also on these days but at a different time (11 pm KST).

9 of the 10 highest-rated cable dramas in 2016 are from tvN, so it is very likely that the 5 highest-rated dramas in the Fri-Sat time slot could be one of those 9 dramas. Although I find the rankings somewhat boring and repetitive because of the dominance of certain shows, what can I do? It just happened that exactly half of the top cable dramas were aired on Fridays and Saturdays. The same case can be observed for the 10 highest-rated dramas in free-to-air category, in which half were aired on Mondays and Tuesdays while the other half on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

If this list consists of tvN dramas, what about JTBC dramas? Are their ratings very low? No, except for one whose average ratings is 0.71%. The average ratings of four out of six JTBC dramas lie within 2-4%, which is not bad based on cable standards. But when are we gonna see a JTBC drama that could perform as good as the Reply series or Goblin? Probably this year, or in 2018? Seriously, didn’t you ask yourself why tvN dramas generally stand out in ratings while their counterparts in the other networks just perform so-so?

5th highest-rated Fri-Sat drama: The Good Wife (4.67 %)

Network: tvN Director: Lee Jeong-hyo Writer: Han Sang-woon Main Cast: Jeon Do-yeon, Yoo Ji-tae, & Yoon Kye-sang Broadcast Period: July 8 – August 27, 2016 (Fri-Sat) Time-slot Rivals: Mirror of the Witch & Age of Youth

4th highest-rated Fri-Sat drama: The K2 (4.86 %)

Network: tvN Director: Kwak Jung-hwan Writer: Jang Hyuk-rin Main Cast: Ji Chang-wook, Song Yoon-ah, Im Yoon-ah, & Jo Song-ha Broadcast Period: September 23 – November 12, 2016 (Fri-Sat) Time-slot Rivals: Fantastic & My Wife’s Having An Affair This Week

3rd highest-rated Fri-Sat drama: Dear My Friends (5.07 %)

Network: tvN Director: Hong Jong-chan Writer: Noh Hee-kyung Main Cast: Go Hyun-jung, Kim Hye-ja, Na Moon-hee, Go Doo-shim, Park Won-sook, Youn Yuh-jung, Joo Hyun, Kim Young-ok & Shin Goo Broadcast Period: May 13 – July 2, 2016 (Fri-Sat) Time-slot Rivals: Mirror of the Witch

2nd highest-rated Fri-Sat drama: Signal (8.82 %)

Network: tvN Director: Kim Won-seok Writer: Kim Eun-hee Main Cast: Lee Je-hoon, Kim Hye-soo & Cho Jin-woong Broadcast Period: January 22 – March 12, 2016 (Fri-Sat) Time-slot Rivals: Madame Antoine

Highest-rated Fri-Sat drama: Goblin (12.81 %)

Network: tvN Director: Lee Eung-bok, Kwon Hyuk-chan & Yoon Jong-ho Writer: Kim Eun-sook Main Cast: Gong Yoo, Kim Go-eun, Lee Dong-wook, Yo In-na & Yook Sung-jae Broadcast Period: December 2, 2016 – January 21, 2017 (Fri-Sat) Time-slot Rivals: Solomon’s Perjury

To see all the list of rankings on one page, go to the Korean Drama Rankings 2016.

(Dramatop: Korean Drama Rankings 2016 is a Kdramapal post series that ranks kdramas based on their nationwide average viewership ratings from Nielsen Korea. It includes in its ranking only prime time dramas that air from Monday to Saturday. We ensure the accuracy of our ranking result by collecting data directly from Nielsen Korea’s website and other reliable sources. If you have feedback or questions regarding the rankings and this post series in general, you can send them to [email protected], message us via Facebook, or comment on the post below.)

(Source of images: TVING)

Post Series Navigation<< 5 highest-rated Wed-Thu dramas in 2016Legend of the Blue Sea, Goblin top drama ranking based on first episode ratings >>