Descendants of the Sun (Photo : Baidu)
The South Korean TV drama “Descendants of the Sun” began to air on Thursday simultaneously in China and South Korea. TV ratings in both countries showed high viewership.
In China, "Descendants of the Sun" had more than 30 million viewers when it opened. It was on the top 3 trending topics on Sina Weibo for the past 20 hours, reported China Daily. In South Korea, the drama enjoyed a 14.3 percent viewership.
Korea Times reported that because of the high viewership of “Descendants of the Sun,” it dethroned "Cheese in the Trap" of tvN, based on a weekly analysis of recent news articles, social media commentaries and blog posts. The new drama just topped the Good Data Corporation list that determines which drama series in major broadcasters and cable channels is the most-talked about.
When Good Data released its list on Monday, “Cheese in the Trap” was number 2 and “Signal” number 3. Until “Descendants of the Sun” descended on South Korean TV, the two shows and “Reply 1988” of tvN topped the list the past 15 weeks.
The drama has 16 episodes. It stars Song Hye-kyo, a South Korean actress, whom Chinese TV viewers first watched in 2004 in another South Korean TV show, “Full House.” “Descendants of Sun” is a love story between a volunteer doctor and a captain of a UN peacekeeping troop, set in a war-torn country.
The producers of the show pre-produced the entire 16 episodes unlike most Korean dramas that have a live-shoot production format. It airs on iQiyi.com every Wednesday and Thursday at 9 p.m., simultaneous with its airing over KBS 2TV in South Korea.
