[Sportschosun Reporter Baek Ji-eun] Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) came out on top in the broadcast battle.
On the 26th, KBS was the only terrestrial broadcaster to provide a live broadcast on KBS1 of the women's basketball final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. The game recorded a 10.3% viewership rating nationwide, according to Nielsen Korea. That figure easily surpassed the tournament's previous high of 6.3%, recorded by the men's soccer quarterfinal featuring Vietnam and broadcast on KBS2 on the 25th. It was the highest rating for any event since the Games began.
KBS also ranked second in event ratings with the women's marathon final featuring Im Ye-jin and Choi Kyung-sun, which it broadcast exclusively live on KBS1 on the 26th. The event posted a 5.3% rating. The men's marathon final featuring Kim Hong-rok and Park Min-ho ranked third for the day with a 4.6% rating. Joel Jin Nwamadi's men's 200-meter preliminary race, which drew attention because he previously appeared as a child actor in the KBS2 drama Descendants of the Sun, ranked fourth with 4.5%. KBS thus claimed three of the day's top five events.
The top 10 events also included the women's doubles table tennis quarterfinal featuring the 'Ppyak-i' Shin Yu-bin and Joo Cheon-hee, which ranked sixth with a 4.1% rating; Lee Jae-sung's men's 200-meter preliminary race, which ranked ninth with 3.8%; and the women's doubles badminton round of 16 featuring Kim Hye-jung and Lee Yeon-woo, which ranked 10th with 3.7%. In particular, the women's doubles table tennis quarterfinal featuring Shin Yu-bin and Joo Cheon-hee was Shin's final match at these Asian Games, making KBS's exclusive live broadcast all the more significant.
Baek Ji-eun silk781220@sportschosun.com
This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.
