C-drama Ratings and Celeb Rankings (week starting Dec 31)

CSM52 / CSM55 Cities + Online

Like A Flowing River reached a new high of 1.419% on its final week. Being the highest-rated Douban drama of 2018, the show had solid viewership throughout its run. Wang Kai was consistently among the top celebs and although his co-stars moved in and out of the top 10, the entire cast and crew has received overwhelming praise. Last I heard, they were working on the script for season 2 so it's definitely not goodbye.  

After a lackluster first week that saw The Story of Minglan outside of the top 10, the show surged in online rankings to place in first this week. Ratings on tv inched higher to reach 1.003%. Behind the Scenes starring Zhou Dongyu and Luo Jin premiered last Saturday though it seems that initial numbers are far from impressive. 

Mystery of Antiques which is a web drama that premiered after Christmas breaks into the list in 4th. Tang Yan's The Lady in Cubicle jumps to 3rd.  It's a 2014 drama that is getting a nationwide broadcast on primetime TV. Meanwhile, Feng Shaofeng joins Zhu Yilong and Zhao Liying in the weekly list. Given all the physical, mental and emotional trauma his character has had to endure, I'm not at all surprised the actor made the cut. 

CSM Nationwide

The Story of Minglan ranks in first based on CSM nationwide. It's been a while but once again, a Hunan TV drama is back in the lead. 

TV Ratings 

CSM52 / CSM55 Cities 

CSM Nationwide

*The above are mostly primetime shows that air at 19:30 while those highlighted in blue air at 22:00. **Rankings are overall rankings across the shows airing on the same night, regardless of air time. *** Reruns are not included. **** Dramas that air on CCTV (the state television broadcaster in China) are not included. ***** CSM52Cities and CSMNationwide are common tv metrics. ****** Beginning Jan 2, 2019, 3 cities of Dandong, Bengbu and Luzhou were added to CSM 52. 

Web Rankings 

Top Dramas (7-Day)  

1. The Story of Minglan

2. Like A Flowing River

3. The Lady in Cubicle

4. Mystery of Antiques

5. Ever Night 

6. The Demon Master

7. The King of Blaze 2

8. Past Events of Jinling

9. About Is Love

10. The King of Blaze

Top Celebrities (7-Day) 

1. Zhu Yilong
2. Zanilia Zhao Liying

2. Wang Kai

4. William Feng Shaofeng

5. Tiffany Tang Yan

6. Yang Zi

7. Yang Mi

8. Yang Shuo

9. Deng Lun

10. Arthur Chen Feiyu

*View count is based on the six streaming sites (Youku, iQiyi, Tencent, LeTV, Sohu, Mango) ** Star popularity is based on view count, weibo, douban, tieba, search results, etc *** iQiYi no longer provides view count. 

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Source: Xunyee

C-drama Ratings and Celeb Rankings (week starting Dec 24)

CSM52 Cities + Online

We've made it to the last day of the year, and it seems that tv rankings have found a status quo with Like A Flowing River keeping the lead as the top drama for December. The Story of Minglan starring newly weds Zhao Liying and Feng Shaofeng has officially premiered on primetime. 

However, first week ratings fell flat even as the story transitioned from the young cast to its adult counterparts. CSM52 ratings ranged between 0.550% and 0.751%, which is even below The King of Blaze on the later evening slot. The show also hasn't made the top 10 dramas online. As someone who's watching this religiously, I really feel that the show matches the level of quality expected from Daylight Entertainment, so I'm crossing my fingers that numbers improve. 

Ever Night which officially ended its run for Tencent members takes the crown as the leading web drama followed by About Is Love. 

CSM Nationwide

Data not available. 

TV Ratings 

CSM52 Cities

*The above are mostly primetime shows that air at 19:30 while those highlighted in blue air at 22:00. **Rankings are overall rankings across the shows airing on the same night, regardless of air time. *** Reruns are not included. **** Dramas that air on CCTV (the state television broadcaster in China) are not included. ***** CSM52Cities and CSMNationwide are common tv metrics. 

Web Rankings 

Top Dramas (7-Day)  

1. Like A Flowing River

2. Ever Night 

3. About Is Love

4. The King of Blaze

5. The Demon Master

6. When We Were Young 

7. The King of Blaze 2

8. Our Glamorous Time

9. Past Events of Jinling

10. Waitan Zhong Sheng

Top Celebrities (7-Day) 

1. Zanilia Zhao Liying

2. Wang Kai

3. Yang Mi

4. Neo Hou

5. Arthur Chen Feiyu

6. Zhu Yilong

7. Jing Tian

8. Yang Zi

9. Tong Yao

10. Yang Shuo

*View count is based on the six streaming sites (Youku, iQiyi, Tencent, LeTV, Sohu, Mango) ** Star popularity is based on view count, weibo, douban, tieba, search results, etc *** iQiYi no longer provides view count. 

Previous <- Ratings and Top Ten -> Next

Source: Xunyee

View count for some dramas this week

Ever Night will air its final episodes for Tencent members in one hour! Coincidentally, there were reports today that Meteor Garden star Dylan Wang has been spotted on the shooting location for season 2. Can we take it as confirmation that he's the new Ning Que? The show is currently at 4.46 billion views 59 days after premiere.

Like A Flowing River is the most popular show on air with the positive word of mouth to back it up. It has reached 1.49 billion views according to Vlinkage 19 days after premiere. It also streams on iQiYi where views are not accounted for. 

About Is Love dropped a poster yesterday to celebrate crossing 1 billion views. It is currently at 1.05 billion views on Tencent and has completed airing for Tencent VIP members.    

The King of Blaze has reached 1.25 billion views according to Vlinkage and still ranks within the top 10 even though it completed airing more than a week ago. It also streams on iQiYi where views are not accounted for. 

The Demon Master is currently at 1.24 combined billion views on Tencent and Mango TV 35 days after premiere.

When We Were Young is currently at 1.16 billion views. The show already finished airing for Tencent VIP and airs its finale for non-VIP today. 

The King of Blaze 2 has reached 199 million views according to Vlinkage, 11 days after premiere. It also streams on iQiYi where views are not accounted for. 

Waitan Zhong Sheng completed airing last night. It has reached 496 million views according to Vlinkage. It also streams on iQiYi where views are not accounted for. 

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*View count are either sourced directly from 1) streaming site 2) official weibo 3) xunyee in order of availability. 

The Story of Minglan premieres to middling ratings with young cast

The Story of Minglan 知否知否应是绿肥红瘦 garnered CSM52 ratings of 0.608% for its much-awaited premiere on Hunan TV last night. I'm surprised that it's lagging behind most of the primetime shows and even ranks below The King of Blaze which garnered 0.770% despite being a late evening show. View count seems more hopeful in comparison as it reached 62.6 million views online to place in 3rd after hit drama Like A Flowing River and About Is Love. Nonetheless, it has yet to hit the 100 million mark that many dramas have crossed within the first hour of release. 

Having caught the first two episodes, Minglan is really a family drama at its core which may not be for everybody. I though I'd be bored, but I personally enjoyed every moment and appreciated how every detail was so intricately shot. Only the young cast have appeared and I'd say they pretty much held their own. 

I love little Minglan, she is too precious! 

I thought he was a young Kim Soo Hyun at first glance, maybe not in this picture. What he does in the first episode is really sweet.

And here I mistook this girl for little Minglan at the opening scene. She's also super cute.  

There would be no drama without someone causing trouble. It's her. 

The heads of the household seem more self-serving and easily manipulated than evil which hardly helps. Meanwhile, here are some stills of Zhao Liying, Feng Shaofeng and Zhu Yilong as we wait for their grand entrance.  

C-drama Ratings and Celeb Rankings (week starting Dec 17)

CSM52 Cities + Online

Like A Flowing River has only been on air for two weeks and it's become the undisputed winner on primetime TV and online. Ratings on review-aggregation website Douban is currently at 8.9, the highest among Chinese dramas this year. The show has been lauded for being a stellar production that I'd be curious to see how numbers change when The Story of Minglan premieres on Christmas day. Both are Daylight Entertainment productions. 

Waitan Zhong Sheng and The Great River trail behind and it seems the latter may be close to breaking past CSM52 ratings of 1%. The modern counterpart of The King of Blaze started airing during the week. Numbers seem consistent as it averages at 0.6%.

Although Ever Night had to settle for second best online, it still remains to be the top web drama based on view count. Original Sin is a new crime thriller that started airing on iQiYi. iQiYi has stopped tracking views and ranks shows based on popularity (not sure how that works). Considering that Original Sin ranks just below Like A Flowing River on iQiYi, it may also be worth a look.

CSM Nationwide

Like A Flowing River has also placed in 1st this week based on CSM Nationwide. 

TV Ratings 

CSM52 Cities

CSM Nationwide

*The above are mostly primetime shows that air at 19:30 while those highlighted in blue air at 22:00. **Rankings are overall rankings across the shows airing on the same night, regardless of air time. *** Reruns are not included. **** Dramas that air on CCTV (the state television broadcaster in China) are not included. ***** CSM52Cities and CSMNationwide are common tv metrics. 

Web Rankings 

Top Dramas (7-Day) as of Dec 18  

1. Like A Flowing River

2. Ever Night 

3. About Is Love

4. The King of Blaze

5. The Demon Master

6. Our Glamorous Time 

7. When We Were Young 

8. The King of Blaze 2

9. Waitan Zhong Sheng

10. The Learning Curve of a Warlord

Top Celebrities (7-Day) as of Dec 18

1. Zanilia Zhao Liying

2. Wang Kai

3. Neo Hou

4. Yang Mi

5. Arthur Chen Feiyu

6. Zhu Yilong

7. Yang Zi

8. Jing Tian 

9. Tong Yao

10. Deng Lun 

*View count is based on the six streaming sites (Youku, iQiyi, Tencent, LeTV, Sohu, Mango) ** Star popularity is based on view count, weibo, douban, tieba, search results, etc *** iQiYi no longer provides view count. 

Previous <- Ratings and Top Ten -> Next

Source: Xunyee

C-drama Ratings and Celeb Rankings (week starting Dec 10)

CSM52 Cities + Online

Sorry for the delay, spilled water on laptop, but it's semi-fixed now. With Chinese primetime filled with shows on economic reform, it doesn't come as a surprise that Like A Flowing River which has a star-studded lineup of Wang Kai, Yang Shuo and Dong Zijian would emerge the winner as it's currently the only show to break past 1% in ratings. Forty Years We Walked placed in second on its last week. Waitan Zhong Sheng which also newly premiered has risen to CSM52 ratings of 0.968% by the end of the week.   

More December premieres like Waitan Zhong Sheng, About Is Love, The City of the Family and The Learning Curve of a Warlord make the top 10 dramas online. Along with his new drama, Wang Kai places in 3rd in the celeb list while Zhang Yijie from The King of Blaze places in 10th. 

CSM Nationwide

Looking at CSM Nationwide, Like A Flowing River placed in 1st for most of the week. 

TV Ratings 

CSM52 Cities

CSM Nationwide

*The above are mostly primetime shows that air at 19:30 while those highlighted in blue air at 22:00. **Rankings are overall rankings across the shows airing on the same night, regardless of air time. *** Reruns are not included. **** Dramas that air on CCTV (the state television broadcaster in China) are not included. ***** CSM52Cities and CSMNationwide are common tv metrics. 

Web Rankings 

Top Dramas (7-Day) as of Dec 18  

1. Ever Night 

2. Like A Flowing River 

3. Our Glamorous Time 

4. Waitan Zhong Sheng 

5. The King of Blaze 

6. About Is Love 

7. When We Were Young 

8. The City of the Family 

9. The Demon Master 

10. The Learning Curve of a Warlord

Top Celebrities (7-Day) as of Dec 18

1. Zanilia Zhao Liying

2. Neo Hou

3. Wang Kai

4. Arthur Chen Feiyu

5. Yang Zi

6. Yang Mi

7. Jin Han

8. Zhu Yilong

9. Deng Lun 

10. Zhang Yijie

*View count is based on the six streaming sites (Youku, iQiyi, Tencent, LeTV, Sohu, Mango) ** Star popularity is based on view count, weibo, douban, tieba, search results, etc *** iQiYi no longer provides view count. 

Previous <- Ratings and Top Ten -> Next

Source: Xunyee

View count for some dramas this week

With a number of dramas ending last week, it's time to turn attention to a few other shows. Ever Night has done consistently well online, placing just below Our Glamorous Time for most of its run. It is currently at 3.38 billion views on Tencent, 45 days after premiere. 

The City of the Family has crossed 300 million views 13 days after premiere. 

The King of Blaze has reached 721 million views based on Xunyee. It has been 19 days after premiere. The total will be higher as the show also streams on iQiYi where views are not accounted for. 

When We Were Young is currently at 780 million views 23 days after premiere.

About Is Love dropped a poster yesterday to celebrate crossing 300 million views. It is currently at 350 million views on Tencent, 12 days after premiere.  

The Demon Master is currently at 730 million views 21 days after premiere.

Like A Flowing River which started airing this Monday has reached 178 million views based on Xunyee. The total will be higher as the show also streams on iQiYi where views are not accounted for. 

Waitan Zhong Sheng which started airing this Monday has reached 164 million views based on Xunyee. The total will be higher as the show also streams on iQiYi where views are not accounted for. 

Hi, I'm Saori's rise seems to have slowed even as the finale draws closer. It is currently at 1.68 billion views on Youku, 33 days after premiere. 

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*View count are either sourced directly from 1) streaming site 2) official weibo 3) xunyee in order of availability.