SBS has led the K-drama industry in the first quarter of 2025 with a triple hit of 'Love Scout', 'Buried Hearts', and 'The Haunted Palace', proving the golden era of its Friday-Saturday dramas through continuous investment and planning in drama production, capturing both ratings and buzz.
SBS's first Friday-Saturday drama of 2025, 'Love Scout', is a close-care romance between a headhunting company CEO Ji-yoon (Han Ji-min), who excels at everything, and her perfect secretary Eun-ho (Lee Jun-hyuk). The romance between Han Ji-min and Lee Jun-hyuk, filled with messages of healing for adults, has been praised as the perfect romance bible. 'Love Scout' broke into double-digit ratings by its third episode, achieving a peak rating of 11.3% and a momentary high of 14% in its final episode. It also reached the highest rating of 4.4% among the target demographic of 20-49-year-olds, and topped the drama brand reputation rankings for January and February 2025, signaling a successful start to SBS's Friday-Saturday dramas for the year.
Following 'Love Scout', 'Buried Hearts' is a life-all-in revenge drama where Seo Dong-ju (Park Hyung-sik), who hacked 2 trillion won of political slush funds, fights to bring down the absolute evil that killed him and their world. Park Hyung-sik's successful transformation into his role, along with the stellar performances of veteran villain Heo Jun-ho and others, the suspenseful plot, and action scenes, received critical acclaim. Ending with a personal best rating of 15.7%, 'Buried Hearts' achieved the highest rating among this year's miniseries, solidifying its position as the unbeatable champion of Friday-Saturday dramas.
Adding to the success, 'The Haunted Palace' became the third consecutive hit, following 'Love Scout' and 'Buried Hearts'. 'The Haunted Palace' is a fantasy romantic comedy about a shaman, Yeori (Kim Ji-yeon), who refuses her fate as a medium, and Kang Cheol (Yook Sung-jae), a serpent spirit trapped in the body of Yeori's first love, Yoon-gap, as they confront a vengeful eight-foot-tall ghost entangling their bodies and souls. With its intriguing premise of serpent spirit possession, fascinating royal court mysteries, and spine-chilling K-ghost episodes, it has broadcasted the charm of K-ghost fantasy worldwide. It has maintained the number one spot in its time slot for three consecutive weeks, and is on the verge of breaking into double-digit ratings.
The success of SBS's Friday-Saturday dramas can be attributed to its diverse genre offerings, including romance, genre fiction, and fantasy historical dramas, capturing viewers' interest and buzz. This has been reflected in the high rankings of SBS Friday-Saturday dramas and their actors in the weekly TV+OTT buzz rankings released by Good Data Corporation, as well as dominating discussions on various social media platforms and online communities.
Through format sales and global OTT services, the global influence of SBS's Friday-Saturday dramas is also expanding. 'Love Scout' ranked first in viewership in 123 countries, including the United States, Brazil, the United Kingdom, France, the United Arab Emirates, and India, just two weeks after its broadcast. 'The Haunted Palace' achieved the top spot in the Asian genre on the Japanese OTT platform Lemino and was ranked first in the overall drama category on the Taiwanese OTT platform Hami Video, showcasing the strength of SBS's Friday-Saturday dramas on various global OTT platforms.
With such overwhelming ratings and high buzz, SBS's Friday-Saturday dramas are further solidifying their position as the 'kingdom of dramas'. In the second half of the year, new works such as the traditional emotional melodrama 'Our Movie' starring Namkoong Min and Jeon Yeo-been, the sports drama 'Try' starring Yoon Kye-sang, which is the first Korean drama to feature rugby, the crime thriller 'Praying Mantis: The Original Sin' starring Go Hyun-jung and Jang Dong-yoon, 'Would You Marry Me' (literal title) starring Choi Woo-shik and Jung So-min, 'Why Did We Kiss!' (literal title) starring Jang Ki-yong and Ahn Eun-jin, and the return of the mega-hit IP 'Taxi Driver' Season 3 after two years, are expected to continue the high ratings and buzz.
(SBS Entertainment News | Kang Sun-ae)