I find your response continually argumentative when viewership numbers were included in the original MDL article - that you dismissed.
“Talking about its global popularity, the K-drama trended heavily on Viki. Soompi reported Lovely Runner "ranked No. 1 in viewership in 133 regions including the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Brazil, Mexico" in its premiere week. Then on May 23, another Soompi report wrote the K-drama "placed No. 1 in viewership in a total of 130 regions on its sixth week of broadcast. In particular, the drama ranked No. 1 for six consecutive weeks in 109 countries including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Brazil, Mexico, and more.
A representative of Rakuten Viki remarked, 'Lovely Runner is breaking its own record every week in the number of weekly viewers in North America, and it is recording the highest number of weekly viewers among 2024 dramas.'"
Becoming number one in over 130 countries in which this show was aired on its various streaming platforms prove that its viewership was higher vs the domestic viewership in S. Korea, by sheer population alone.
Lovely Runner topped viewership on both Viki and Viu, reflecting tvNing’s reporting a 94% share.
Therefore, including worldwide viewership, QoTs does not come out on top, but including domestic viewership, it does at 28.38%, for which I was thrilled because I’m not a huge fan of CLOY so was happy something I liked more took top spot.
Again, the parameters that Gooddata set to measure what they chose to measure is just as valid as the data you cite as only being acceptable.
Every study ever done, including medical studies, chooses a set of parameters for the study, which it will either prove or disprove.
By your criteria, no study done is valid except a sliver of views in a select narrow market - but omitting the whole.
As I said, you’re welcome to your opinion and I applaud your right to hold it.
However, what you cannot do is be the defining judge of published data, nor how it is gathered.
I am now weary of this exchange, so hope you can find another show to equally enjoy.