Former national volleyball player Kim Yeon-koung may win the MBC Entertainment Awards' rookie award.
Kim Yeon-koung's performance on the MBC variety show 'Rookie director Kim Yeon-koung' has been spectacular. Making his debut as a director, his charismatic leadership of the team immediately captivated viewers, and the program's ratings doubled.
According to Nielsen Korea's ratings survey on the 13th, the rating for 'Rookie director Kim Yeon-koung,' which aired on the 12th, was 4.7% (national households). That is a 0.7 percentage point increase from last week's 4.0%. It is also more than double the 2.2% recorded for the first broadcast.
That episode recorded an unstoppable rise, with a 2.5% rating among viewers aged 20-49 — a key indicator of channel competitiveness — and a 5.1% household rating in the Seoul metropolitan area, crowning it as a new Sunday variety leader.
The scene in which IBK coach Kim Ho-cheol told Wonder Dogs' setter Lee Jin and libero Koo Hye-in after the game, "I should have helped you more," calling them "players who tug at the heartstrings," and the reveal of the next opponent, Shujitsu High School, after interviews with Pyo Seung-ju and Yoon Young-in who felt a crisis of team disbandment, sent minute-by-minute peak ratings soaring to 6.8%, showing the unstoppable momentum of 'Rookie director Kim Yeon-koung.'
'Rookie director Kim Yeon-koung' is a club founding project featuring the volleyball legend who returned as a rookie coach, the 'emperor of volleyball' Kim Yeon-koung.
The program drew a strong response from viewers from the first broadcast. As of the 2nd following the broadcast on the 28th of last month, teaser and broadcast clips and various video contents drew explosive reactions across platforms such as MBC YouTube, Naver TV and social media immediately after release, surpassing 6.62 million cumulative views in just one episode.
Among them, the Kim Yeon-koung "bread-sitter's debut as a director" video released on MBC's main YouTube channel 'Mdduru Mdduru' reached 1.4 million views within four days of release, heating up online communities.
Platform performance has also been dazzling. 'Rookie director Kim Yeon-koung' ranked No. 1 in the variety category on Wavve after broadcast and simultaneously became the No. 1 program in driving new paid subscriptions on Wavve, proving its strong influence in the OTT market.
Much of the strong response is due to Kim Yeon-koung's performance. Called the "Messiah of women's volleyball," Kim Yeon-koung said she appeared on 'Rookie director Kim Yeon-koung' to develop volleyball. Kim Yeon-koung said, "I wanted to do something meaningful. I want to develop volleyball," frankly explaining why she chose a 'volleyball variety' after retirement.
With that much enthusiasm, rookie coach Kim Yeon-koung sometimes shows her trademark charismatic side during matches and leads by sometimes whipping and sometimes giving carrots to players, increasing viewer immersion with her leadership.
Serious Kim Yeon-koung raised ratings with matches that whet viewers' appetites every week, from leading the debut victory against veteran coach Kim Ho-cheol with 30 years of experience to the Korea-Japan match.
[Photo] OSEN DB, provided by MBC
[OSEN]