Pro Bono, Episode 2 grabs big ratings rise – K-drama performing VERY well on Netflix
Michelle Topham 
Pro Bono, Episode 2 sees an almost 2.0 percent increase in its audience share
tvN drama Pro Bono, Episode 2 aired on Sunday night to a big rise in its ratings — earning almost 2.0 percentage points higher than the K-drama garnered for its first episode.
Data via Nielsen Korea shows Pro Bono, Episode 2 earning 6.18 percent of the audience share, which is a much higher viewership than Episode 1’s rating of 4.45 percent on Saturday night.
The Korean legal-themed drama also saw a similar rise with audiences in Seoul, grabbing 6.01 percent versus the 4.13 percent it earned for Episode 1 in that region.
Considering many K-dramas see a fall in ratings for their second episode, such a solid increase bodes extremely well for its next 10 episodes, as most people who watched Episode 1 obviously stuck around for Episode 2.
Both of these ratings also meant Pro Bono, Episode 2 was the #1 show in its time slot. Again.
International ratings for Pro Bono
As you might expect if you’ve heard me go on and on about the effect trolls in the Asian drama “community” have on the early ratings of new K-dramas, the ratings for Pro Bono on international sites so far are typically low.
My Drama List currently has the show at a 7.8 out of 10, which is a low rating over there when anything at 8.0 or above is viewed as a ‘good drama’.
That rating, however, is to be expected as almost every drama on the platform is rated down by trolls when it first kicks off, only to see its ratings rise within a few episodes. That is likely to happen here as well.
Especially as the ratings from the users of the site actually watching Pro Bono are complimentary about both its plot and actors.
Similarly on IMDB, where trolls are as big of a problem, Pro Bono is earning a 7.9 out of 10, but from just 39 users.
Pro Bono is performing superbly on Netflix so far
Netflix, however, is the actual test of whether a drama is doing well, as their ratings are based on time viewed and not on idiots downrating a K-drama because they’re “offended” by one sentence a minor character said. (Yes, people actually do that).
In this case, while the official Netflix data for last week doesn’t come out until tomorrow, it is obviously performing extremely well on the platform with Flixpatrol showing it currently in the Top 10 in 38 countries.
That pretty much guarantees that Pro Bono will appear on the Netflix Top 10 Non-English TV Shows chart when it releases tomorrow. And likely high up as well.
We’ll keep you posted.
Pro Bono stars Jung Kyung Ho, So Joo Yeon, Lee Yoo Young, Yoon Na Moo, Seo Hye Won, and Kang Hyung Seok.
The Korean drama’s third episode will air/stream on Saturday December 13th, so let’s see if it is able to maintain its rise in the ratings then.
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