The South Korean television landscape saw a major shake-up in the final week of July, with Disney+ original series “A Shop for Killers” Season 2 emerging as the most talked-about drama. The series, starring Lee Dong Wook, topped the weekly TV-OTT drama buzz rankings released by Good Data Corporation’s FUNdex for the 5th week of July (July 27 – August 2).
The action thriller secured a commanding 20.07% share of the drama buzz, comfortably holding the number one position. Lee Dong Wook also claimed the top spot in the drama cast buzz category with a 5.71% share, sweeping both the program and performer divisions.
MBC’s ‘A Bona Fide Killer’ Takes Second Place
Hot on the heels of the Disney+ hit was MBC’s Friday-Saturday drama “A Bona Fide Killer” (also known as “Yubunyeo Killer”), which secured the second position with an 11.95% buzz share. The drama, starring Gong Hyo-jin, has been performing well in traditional ratings as well.
According to Nielsen Korea data, “A Bona Fide Killer” recorded a 7.4% nationwide rating for its first episode on July 31, which increased to 8.0% for its second episode on August 1. The drama also peaked at a momentary high of 10.6% during its broadcast. Gong Hyo-jin ranked second in the cast buzz category with a 5.55% share.
tvN’s ‘Spooky in Love’ Rounds Out the Top Three
The third spot went to tvN’s “Spooky in Love” with an 11.89% buzz share, narrowly trailing the MBC drama. The series stars Park Eun-bin and Yang Se-jong, who ranked third and fourth respectively in the cast buzz category.
Other dramas making the top five included tvN’s “Tomorrow, I Go to Work!” (10.07%) in fourth place and Netflix’s “Eastern Palace” (9.91%) in fifth.
Non-Drama Category: ‘Bloody Game X’ Continues Its Reign
In the TV-OTT non-drama category, Wave’s “Bloody Game X” held the number one position with a 5.10% buzz share. This marks the show’s second consecutive week at the top and its fourth overall number one ranking since its release. The survival variety program, which features unpredictable rules and intense physical and mental challenges, has seen a slight increase in overall buzz compared to its previous season.
Netflix’s “I Want to Date, But I’m a Long-Time Single 2” came in second with 3.66%, followed by MBC’s “Point of Omniscient Interference” at 3.18%. MBC’s “What Do You Do When You Play?” ranked fourth with 3.02%, and tvN’s “You Quiz on the Block” rounded out the top five with 2.72%.
Methodology Behind the Rankings
FUNdex, operated by Good Data Corporation, calculates buzz scores by综合 analyzing news articles (media attention and comments), VON (Voice of Netizen: cafe, blog, and community posts and comments), video clips and views, and SNS posts. The rankings for the 5th week of July covered programs that were broadcast or scheduled for broadcast between July 27 and August 2, 2026, including both TV and OTT original content.
The drama cast category also included guest appearances in its analysis.
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Traditional Ratings Landscape
While buzz rankings measure online conversation, traditional viewership ratings tell a different story. MBC’s “A Bona Fide Killer” has been performing strongly in the 7-8% range. Meanwhile, KBS2’s weekend drama “The Husband” recorded its highest rating of 7.5% for episode 9.
Other weekend dramas saw fluctuations, with tvN’s “Spooky in Love” decreasing from 5.8% to 5.5%, JTBC’s “The Apartment Job” dropping from 5.2% to 4.4%, and KBS2’s “Love on the Menu” falling from 13% to 11.7%.
The competition between streaming originals and traditional broadcast dramas continues to intensify, with Disney+ and Netflix originals consistently ranking high in buzz metrics while traditional broadcasters maintain strong viewership numbers.
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