'Defendant' Breaks Ratings Record Anew, Takes 28.3 Percent Of National Audience Share

SBS drama "Defendant" smashed its own rating record when it posted its highest ever ratings for its final episode. For its finale, the successful SBS drama posted an unprecedented 28.3 percent ratings nationwide.

Reports from a week before already had the drama headed towards the 30 percent mark. For the second to its final week, it rated its highest for its 15th episode with 25.6 percent nationwide, according to an AGB Nielsen Korea survey.

For its penultimate episode, it beat the previous week's record by posting 27 percent. Defendant beat its personal best with its finale showing of 28.3 percent, with many viewers curious to know how prosecutor Park Jung Woo, played by Ji Sung, will finally prove his innocence and unravel the conspiracies that landed him in jail for false accusations in the first place, Soompi reported.

"Defendant," when it started airing on January 23, started off with only 14.5 percent viewership. This was already higher than the average ratings of Ji Sung's critically acclaimed "Kill Me, Heal Me" drama. As more viewers continued to get hooked to intricacies of Park Jung Woo's case with the additional dilemma of his memory loss, "Defendant" climbed in ratings and reached an average of 20 percent viewership by its seventh episode. The show continued with its upwards trajectory in the following weeks.

"Defendant's" competing shows did not fare so well with MBC's "Rebel: Thief Who Stole the People" only garnering 8.8 percent of the viewers' share. KBS2's "Perfect Wife" also posted 4.4 percent ratings.

2017 seems to be a good year for ratings because aside from "Defendant", Lee Min Ho and Jun Ji Hyun's "Legend of the Blue Sea" also peaked at 21 percent ratings. Gong Yoo and Lee Dong Wook's "Goblin" also managed to nab for tVN its highest ratings at 22.1 percent for the finale.