A baseline survey
Nielsen Korea (닐슨코리아) begins with a baseline survey (기초조사) of TV-viewing conditions across the country, to understand the TV-viewing environment accurately.1
How Nielsen Korea's TV Ratings Work
닐슨코리아 시청률은 어떻게 집계되나
Nielsen Korea measures TV audiences with a panel of selected households fitted with people meters, and publishes two numbers: a household rating in percent and a viewer count in thousands. On Sunday, October 25, 2026, the top terrestrial program drew a 16.3% rating and 3,072 thousand viewers.
Data as of (table: Sunday, October 25, 2026)
| Household rank | Channel | Program | Household rating | Viewers (thousands) | Viewer-count rank | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | KBS2 | KBS2주말드라마(사랑이온다) | 16.3% | 3,072 | 1 | 4 |
| 2 | SBS | My Little Old Boy미운우리새끼다시쓰는육아일기 | 9.4% | 1,874 | 2 | 4 |
| 3 | KBS2 | 2 Days & 1 Night1박2일 | 7.0% | 1,486 | 3 | 4 |
| 4 | KBS1 | Korea Sings전국노래자랑 | 6.5% | 1,309 | 4 | 4 |
| 5 | MBC | 신인감독김연경2 | 5.4% | 1,118 | 5 | 4 |
| 6 | KBS1 | KBS뉴스(12:00) | 5.0% | 970 | 6 | 4 |
| 7 | SBS | TV동물농장 | 4.8% | 948 | 7 | 4 |
| 8 | KBS1 | KBS9시뉴스 | 4.7% | 823 | 10 | 4 |
| 9 | KBS2 | 사장님귀는당나귀귀 | 4.4% | 827 | 9 | 4 |
| 10 | KBS1 | KBS뉴스(19:00) | 4.2% | 794 | 11 | 4 |
| 10 | KBS1 | 이슈PICK쌤과함께 | 4.2% | 740 | 13 | 4 |
| 12 | SBS | SBS8뉴스 | 3.9% | 793 | 12 | 4 |
| 13 | SBS | Running Man런닝맨 | 3.8% | 942 | 8 | 4 |
This is Nielsen Korea's own daily terrestrial ranking for Sunday, October 25, 2026, nationwide ("전국"), as it published it: the first 13 of the 20 programs on its household-rating list, each matched to the same program on its separate viewer-count list. Program titles are shown as Nielsen prints them, and an English title is added only where DabPop's other posts already use one. The household list's basis is 13 regions, households, in percent; the viewer list's is 13 regions, individuals, in thousands.4 Two programs tie at 4.2% for tenth. Nielsen Korea also publishes a Seoul capital-area ("수도권") view, which this table does not use.4
How it works
Selecting the panel
Households are chosen against the survey by region, number of TVs, household size, monthly income, which TV platforms they subscribe to, and the sex and age of members.1 Nielsen says it picks households that represent all households and people nationwide, building criteria for a representative household in each region, and that only households chosen this way can be panelists: volunteering is not possible.2
People meters in the home
Collected every night
Each day from 2 a.m., the previous day's viewing data is sent to Nielsen's head office.1
Cleaning and weighting
Editing rules and weights are applied to filter out bad data, and the panel's results are scaled up to the whole population, which produces the final data.1
Matching to the programs
Program-monitoring information, is combined with the panel's viewing data.1
Analysis and publication
Nielsen analyses the data in its Arianna software.1 Its public ranking pages then show two lists for each day: a household rating (가구시청률, in percent) and a viewer count (시청자수, in thousands of people), each for the top 20 programs, with a nationwide and a Seoul capital-area view. The household figures for terrestrial channels go back to January 2006 and the individual viewer counts to January 2017.4
Two measures, two orders
The same day can order programs differently depending on the measure. On October 25, 2026, KBS1's 9 o'clock news ranked eighth by household rating (4.7%) but tenth by viewers (823 thousand), while SBS's Running Man was 13th by household rating (3.8%) and eighth by viewers (942 thousand).4 DabPop's drama ratings ranking uses the household figure.
What the public pages leave out
Sources
- Nielsen Korea, 시청률조사 방법 (ratings methodology: the seven steps), retrieved 2026-10-27.
- Nielsen Korea, 패널문의 (panel enquiries), retrieved 2026-10-27.
- Nielsen Korea, 계약 문의 (company profile and contracts), retrieved 2026-10-27.
- Nielsen Korea, terrestrial daily ranking, October 25, 2026, nationwide, retrieved 2026-10-27.