Ji Sung Overtakes Namkoong Min in Ratings Battle as Viewership Declines

Ji Sung's new weekend drama has pulled ahead of its direct rival for the first time. JTBC's Saturday-Sunday series The Apartment Job posted a 5.4 percent national average rating on Saturday for its third episode, edging out KBS's The Husband, which drew 5.0 percent in the same time slot.

The result marked a 0.7 percentage point jump from the show's premiere the previous Saturday. More importantly, it was the first time The Apartment Job finished ahead of The Husband head-to-head.

The gap between the two dramas had been moving in the opposite direction until now. On the night The Apartment Job premiered, the third episode of The Husband pulled a 5.3 percent rating, a 0.6 percentage point lead. A week later, the fourth episode of The Husband hit 7.2 percent while The Apartment Job held at 5.4 percent, widening the gap to 1.8 percentage points. The tide turned in just three episodes.

Saturday's episode of The Apartment Job followed Park Hae-gang, played by Ji Sung, as he ran for head of the The Apartment Job residents' association. He built support by tackling a delivery crisis inside the complex, then found himself cornered by a suspicious delivery accident and a maliciously edited video. He pulled off a dramatic win by the end of the hour.

The fifth episode of The Husband leaned into its thriller arc. Namkoong Min's character picked up a key clue about the identity of the kidnapper, played by Kim Dae-myung, while Lee Seol's character tried to escape.

The Husband has historically drawn stronger numbers on Sundays than on Saturdays. Attention now turns to whether the KBS drama can reclaim the lead over The Apartment Job with its sixth episode.