The top spot in 44 countries and even foreign media went crazy..Im Yoon-ah ♥ Lee Chae-min, the chef of tyrant, is popular around the world

Sep 10, 2025

Lim Yoon-ah is having a photo time at the production presentation of tvN's new Saturday drama "The Tyrant's Chef" held at Sindorim the St. in Seoul on the 19th. Reporter Huh Sang-wook @sportschosun.com/2025.08.19/

The power of 'The Tyrant's Chef' is great.

tvN's Saturday-Sunday drama 『The Tyrant's Chef" (directed by Jang Tae-yu) has established itself as the best romantic comedy in 2025 as it has swept not only viewership but also popularity and OTT at home and abroad.

The viewership of the sixth episode, which aired on the 7th, has continued to rise steadily, recording an average of 13.1% for households in the Seoul metropolitan area and up to 15.1%. In addition, both weekends ranked first in all channels at the same time, maintaining the No. 1 overall viewership among tvN dramas in 2025.(Based on a paid platform that integrates cable, IPTV, and satellite / Provided by Nielsen Korea) In TVing, real-time live UV has increased about 1.5 times compared to the previous week as of the 5th and 6th broadcasts, and it is ranked in the top 20 of today's TVing right after the first broadcast, and has dominated the topic for three consecutive weeks.(As of 2025.09.07)

The global response is also unrivaled. First of all, it ranked second in Netflix's official Global TOP TV Show (non-English) category, which was released on the 10th. After being ranked in the top 10 for three consecutive weeks from the first week of its release, it was ranked second for two consecutive weeks. According to the global OTT content ranking service FlickPatrol, 'The Tyrant's Chef' entered the top 10 in 93 regions and ranked first in 44 regions, including Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, and Vietnam. It is also worth noting that the response is hot not only in Asia but also in the Americas and European markets. Among them, if you look at the U.S. rankings, they are ranked in the top 10 at the beginning of the broadcast and recorded up to 4th place, making remarkable achievements among K-drama released this year.

In addition, it topped the TV-OTT drama hot topic for three consecutive weeks in the first week of September 2025 announced by Fundex of Good Data Corporation, a K-content competitiveness analysis agency. Lim Yoon-ah (played by Yeon Ji-young) and Lee Chae-min (played by Lee Heon) also maintained their No. 1 ranking in the drama cast's popularity for three consecutive weeks.(2025.09.01~2025.09.07 aggregate) It proudly ranked first in the September 2025 drama brand reputation ranking released by the Korea Enterprise Reputation Research Institute, making people feel its popularity. (Based on the 2025.8.9~2025.9.9 survey)

The reason "The Tyrant's Chef" is gaining such popularity is that the life of actors attached to the character, a feast of salivary food, pleasant stories and sensual productions are combined to target the tastes of viewers around the world who cross borders. In particular, the foods featured in 'Treason's Chef' are causing great reactions at home and abroad. Fusion foods that combine traditional Korean ingredients such as soybean paste and traditional foods such as bibimbap and soybean paste soup with aquaculture cooking techniques are attracting high attention. Forbes, a leading U.S. media outlet, introduced 'The Tyrant's Chef' as "Im Yoon-ah and Lee Chae-min show sweet chemistry, but the real main character of the drama may be precisely prepared food. There has been no K-drama dedicated to satisfying such a demanding taste of the king since 'Daejanggeum'" has been introduced. He also expressed the difference in his work, saying, `It shows the power of persuasion of a well-prepared meal.'

With the romance between Yeon Ji-young (Im Yoon-ah) and Lee Heon (Lee Chae-min) in the play, expectations are rising on how their relationship will change, and tvN's romantic comedy tvN's Saturday-Sunday drama "The Tyrant's Chef", which satisfies global viewers' tastes, will air the 7th episode at 9:10 p.m. on the 13th.

lunamoon@sportschosun.com