K-Drama Struggles Getting Out Of 0% Rating Range Despite Popular Lead Couple

The chemistry between the two leads has gone viral on social media.

Despite featuring two popular actors in the lead roles, an ongoing KBS K-Drama is struggling to get out of the 0% viewership range in Korea.

The K-Drama in question is Pump Up the Healthy Love, starring Lee Jun Young and Jung Eun Ji.

According to Nielsen Korea on May 22, KST, the latest episode of the K-Drama recorded a nationwide household viewership rating of 1.1%, marking a 0.2% drop from the previous episode.

This decline is consistent with the performance of the previous episodes. The show was already off to a rocky start when it premiered with 1.8% viewership, which remained unchanged for the second episode as well. It dipped to 1.5% in episode 3, seeing a slight improvement in episode 4 with 1.7% viewership.

With this constant decline and only five more episodes left before the show’s conclusion, it seems more likely that the K-Drama might finish on a poor viewership rating as well. However, it wouldn’t be the only terrestrial drama to struggle with low ratings. SBS‘s Spring of Youth and MBC‘s Crushology 101 have also shown similar patterns of viewership decline. This trend has sparked concern about a broader crisis emerging among terrestrial dramas, as even past flop shows like Kokdu: Season of Deity were able to maintain steadier ratings at around 1.3%.

Record-Breaking K-Drama Ends With 0% Rating Despite Popular Cast

Contrary to the TV ratings, the drama is performing impressively on OTT, presumably because the younger fanbase of both lead actors prefers those platforms over broadcast. Pump Up the Healthy Love has ranked among the top 20 dramas on Wavve, topped Disney+ Korea’s “Top 10” list on May 15, and was named the no.1 drama on Taiwan’s friDay Video.

Pump Up the Healthy Love is slated to release its ninth episode on May 29 at 9:50 pm KST.