SBS’s “Our Ballad 2” is off to a record-breaking start. The audition show’s premiere episode, which aired on October 5, peaked at 7.1 percent in minute-by-minute ratings and landed at No. 3 on Netflix’s Korea Series Top 10, signaling that season 1’s success was no fluke.
According to TV Report, Nielsen Korea capital-area household ratings for episode 1 came in at 4.7 percent for part 1 and 6.2 percent for part 2, while the coveted 2049 demographic hit 1.2 and 1.7 percent. That beat season 1’s premiere numbers and took No. 1 in its time slot and among all Monday variety shows. Online, clips from the show have already passed 15 million cumulative views, including 3 million within the first 24 hours.
The first round, themed “the song that made me cry,” produced a surprise: three contestants — Im Ba-da, Heo Chae-min, and Kim So-yeon — each earned 147 votes, surpassing season 1 winner Lee Ye-ji’s 146-vote mark. Kim So-yeon’s stage of “Love, About Its Loneliness” alone passed 1 million views in a day.
Judge Roy Kim praised Korean-Australian Im Ba-da’s take on the classic “Recollection,” saying, “It feels like a balladeer who could follow in Park Jung-hyun and Kim Jo-han’s footsteps.” Jung Jae-hyung added of the same contestant, “This is the person we were looking for.”
Season 1 set a high bar: No. 1 in 2049 ratings every episode, No. 1 among variety shows on Netflix’s “Today’s Series” list, 100 million online views, and the top entertainment TV prize at the 39th Korean Broadcasting Awards.
Episode 2 of “Our Ballad 2” airs on October 12 at 10 p.m.
