Lee Min Ho drama ‘Legend of the Blue Sea’ close to reaching ‘Descendants of the Sun’ success

Lee Min Ho's SBS drama "Legend of the Blue Sea" recently reached an impressive milestone with TV ratings within the South Korea's metropolitan area breaking through the 20 percent mark. Speculations hinted at the SBS series potentially reaching the same level of success as the KBS hit "Descendants of the Sun."

"Legend of the Blue Sea" has been enjoying steady ratings since it premiered in mid-November. With a 16 percent viewership share posted during its first episode, Lee's drama even surpassed the "Descendants of the Sun" premiere episode ratings.

After a three week run, the SBS fantasy drama series continue to register double-digit TV ratings. Episode 6 showed a boost in viewership share that raised ratings to 22.1 percent across South Korea's metropolitan area, according to Nielsen Korea, as cited by Korea Herald.

Aired on Dec. 1, Thursday, the said episode also posted nationwide viewership ratings of 18.9 percent. With an increase of 2.1 percent, Lee's mermaid drama rose from the 16.8 percent TV rating recorded during episode 5.

At this time, it is unclear if the SBS fantasy drama series will break through the 30 percent nationwide viewership level during its upcoming fifth-week broadcast. Episode 9 of the hit KBS drama "Descendants of the Sun" reached the said TV rating mark in the same period with a 30.4 percent viewership share.

In other news, "Legend of the Blue Sea" remains the leader amongst primetime dramas that share the same Wednesday-Thursday timeslot. The SBS series topped other dramas such as "My Fair Lady" and "Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo" in the TV rating race.

The recent episode of the KBS series "My Fair Lady" posted viewership ratings of 5.5 percent, according to Yonhap News. Meanwhile, the MBC drama "Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo" registered ratings of 4.6 percent.

"Legend of the Blue Sea" airs every Wednesday and Thursday on SBS. Watch a clip from the drama's episode 6 below: