The Apartment Job Ends at Series-High 7.7% as Sunday Dramas Post Strong Ratings

JTBC’s The Apartment Job finished its run with the strongest nationwide audience rating of the series. The drama’s finale recorded an average of 7.7 percent on August 16, giving the production a clear high point at the moment of its conclusion.

The result represented a substantial one-night increase. The penultimate episode had earned 5.4 percent nationwide on August 15, meaning the final installment added 2.3 percentage points. That is an increase of roughly 43 percent compared with the previous episode’s figure, although the two percentages remain measures of television households rather than total individual viewers.

A finale surge changes the shape of the run

Final episodes often attract viewers who have followed a story intermittently, waited to see how its central conflict would be resolved or returned after hearing renewed discussion around a drama. In this case, the scale of the jump is especially notable because The Apartment Job did not merely improve on the preceding night; it surpassed every earlier rating in its run.

A series-high finale gives the drama a strong final data point in conventional television measurement. It does not by itself reveal why viewers tuned in, nor does it capture streaming activity or international audiences. It does, however, show that the conclusion generated the production’s broadest measured nationwide reach on Korean television.

The 2.3-point rise also illustrates how much a closing episode can differ from the weekly baseline immediately before it. A modest change would have been enough to set a new benchmark if the earlier record were close. Instead, the finale produced a visibly larger audience than Saturday’s installment, creating a decisive finish rather than a marginal record.

Spooky in Love reaches its own high

tvN’s Spooky in Love also set a new personal best ahead of the final week of its broadcast. Its latest episode averaged 7.3 percent nationwide and ranked first in its time slot among all cable channels.

The timing gives the romance drama momentum before its remaining episodes. Unlike The Apartment Job, which has now completed its run, Spooky in Love still has an opportunity to extend its record. Its 7.3 percent result establishes the rating that the final week will be measured against.

The two cable results were close in raw nationwide terms, separated by 0.4 percentage points, but they describe different stages of their respective schedules. One marks a completed drama’s final peak; the other marks a still-running series entering its last stretch. That distinction matters when considering whether either number may be surpassed in a later report.

Love on the Menu remains Sunday’s overall leader

KBS 2TV’s Love on the Menu remained the most-watched program of Sunday with an average nationwide rating of 14.8 percent. Its figure was more than double the 7.3 percent recorded by Spooky in Love, reflecting the continuing gap that can exist between a leading terrestrial weekend drama and strong cable competitors.

Direct numerical comparisons still require care because the programs air through different networks and occupy different competitive positions. The ratings do not establish which drama had the most engaged online audience or the widest reach outside Korea. They offer a standardized domestic broadcast measure, useful for tracking each title against its own previous episodes and assessing the immediate Sunday schedule.

Taken together, the three results show a busy Sunday landscape rather than a single isolated success. The Apartment Job secured a record at the finish line, Spooky in Love reached a new peak before its final week, and Love on the Menu retained the day’s largest measured audience.

The next ratings update will shift attention away from The Apartment Job and toward whether the two continuing dramas can sustain their positions. For now, the completed JTBC series exits with its highest number, giving its finale a measurable distinction within an otherwise competitive night of Korean television.