Suzy’s “career-defining performance” still resonated four years later… 5.2% viewership rating in rerun broadcast

As Coupang Play’s original series ‘Anna,’ starring Suzy, came to television screens, it got off to a strong start, recording viewership in the 5% range from its premiere.

‘Anna’ makes a powerful debut, surpassing ‘Noryang’ by more than double with 5.2%

According to Nielsen Korea, ‘Anna,’ which aired on MBC at 9:10 p.m. on the 23rd, recorded a nationwide viewership rating of 5.2%.

During the Liberation Day holiday weekend on the 16th, MBC scheduled the film ‘Noryang: Deadly Sea’ and a special episode of ‘I Live Alone.’ On the following 23rd, it scheduled ‘Anna’ and a rerun of episode 8 of the Friday-Saturday drama ‘Married Woman Killer.’

Among these programs, ‘Noryang: Deadly Sea’ recorded a 2.3% viewership rating, while the rerun of ‘Married Woman Killer’ recorded 1.9%. In contrast, ‘Anna,’ which aired in the time slot previously occupied by ‘Noryang,’ drew more than twice the viewership, attracting attention.

‘Anna’ leads to a rediscovery of Suzy, including a Best Actress award at the Blue Dragon Series Awards

‘Anna’ tells the story of Yumi, played by Suzy, a woman who begins with a minor lie, goes on to live an entirely different person’s life, and eventually loses part of her own identity and life.

Released as a Coupang Play original series in June 2022, it received favorable reviews for Suzy’s transformation as an actress and the outstanding performances of accomplished actors including Jung Eun-chae, Kim Jun-han, and Park Ye-young.

In recognition of this work, Suzy won Best Actress at the 2023 Blue Dragon Series Awards and the Actress Award in the International Competition section of the Seoul Drama Awards.

More OTT dramas are being rescheduled for television, easing the burden of rising production costs with hit content

Previously, beginning with the Disney+ original series ‘Moving’ in December 2024, MBC scheduled seasons 1 and 2 of ‘Big Bet,’ as well as season 1 of ‘The Killer’s Shopping List.’

MBC explained that this was part of a strategy to build a synergy model with OTT platforms. The strategy is interpreted as an effort to ease the burden caused by rising drama production costs while utilizing content whose quality and commercial success have already been proven.

In fact, ‘Big Bet’ recorded a lowest viewership rating of 3.1% and a highest rating of 4.8%, making it the fifth-highest-rated MBC Friday-Saturday drama broadcast that year.

Cases in which legacy media broadcasters schedule content from OTT platforms are increasing. tvN successively scheduled seasons 1 and 2 of the Apple TV+ original series ‘Pachinko,’ which had previously been available exclusively on TVING.

This is interpreted as tvN filling the gap created when the scheduling of ‘The Second Signal’ effectively fell through with ‘Pachinko.’ As a result, season 1 recorded a nationwide paid-household viewership rating of 4.1% according to Nielsen Korea.

Photos: MBC, Coupang Play

Reporter Lee Chang-gyu