Kakao Entertainment said on the 28th that the popular intellectual property (IP) Taxi Driver series is recording a sharp rise in views in step with the broadcast of SBS's Friday-Saturday drama Taxi Driver 3.
Kakao Entertainment said weekly views for KakaoPage's Taxi Driver: Recall jumped about 64 times in the first week of broadcast (Nov. 17–Nov. 23) compared with the week before the SBS Friday-Saturday drama Taxi Driver 3 began airing (Nov. 10–Nov. 16). Synergy was also confirmed in other series. Webtoon season 1 Taxi Driver saw weekly views rise about 33 times over the same period, and the prequel webtoon Taxi Driver: Born in Black rose about 4 times.
This upward trend is analyzed to be the result of the solid popularity of the original and the drama's buzz converging. The KakaoPage webtoon Taxi Driver has steadily been loved for its exhilarating plot in which the protagonist, Kim Do-gi, who works at the revenge-for-hire specialist organization "Rainbow Transport," punishes absolute evil. On the strength of its popularity, season 2 Taxi Driver: Recall was released, and currently the prequel Taxi Driver: Born in Black, which covers the intern days of heroine Chae Madam and Kim Do-gi, who gained great popularity in season 1, is being serialized.
The drama, true to the series, is also drawing strong attention. Taxi Driver 3, which premiered on the 21st, ranked No. 1 in ratings among all programs in its time slot from the first episode and set the highest premiere rating among miniseries aired this year. On Nielsen Korea's Seoul metropolitan standard, the peak was 11.1% and the average 9.9%. Strong performances by the original members, including Lee Je-hoon as Kim Do-gi, as well as Kim Eui-sung, Pyo Ye-jin, Jang Hyuk-jin and Bae Yoo-ram, also boosted the box office. This season, too, is expected to continue an exhilarating action narrative centered on "Rainbow Transport," Kim Do-gi's private revenge-for-hire arc, and a variety of villain characters.
KakaoPage released a webtoon–drama collaboration poster using the webtoon's Kim Do-gi character in connection with the drama broadcast and is also running series-related events. Through Dec. 7, the three titles Taxi Driver, Taxi Driver: Recall and Taxi Driver: Born in Black are provided free every three hours, and various cash draw ticket events are being offered to readers.