American Remake Of "The King of Mask Singer" Scores Highest Ratings Of Any Variety Show Premiere Since 2011

Jan 05, 2019

The premiere of Fox’s “The Masked Singer,” the new American remake of MBC’s hit singing competition “The King of Mask Singer,” proved to be a smash success!

On January 2, Fox aired the first episode of its new variety show, which follows a similar format to “The King of Mask Singer,” albeit with slightly different rules. Just like the original Korean program, “The Masked Singer” features masked celebrities in elaborate stage costumes going head-to-head in a singing battle, with a panel of stars judging their performances and attempting to guess their identities.

The next day, Nielsen ratings revealed that the show was a hit—an impressive total of 9.4 million viewers tuned in to the series premiere, which scored an average rating of 3.3 percent among viewers ages 18 to 49. Not only did “The Masked Singer” achieve the highest viewership ratings of any Fox series premiere during the 2018-2019 season, but it was also the most-watched premiere on any American network this season among viewers ages 18 to 49.

Furthermore, “The Masked Singer” scored the highest viewership ratings of any unscripted series premiere on any network since “The X Factor” in 2011 (excluding post-NFL premieres).

MBC executive Park Hyun Ho commented, “This is only the beginning. Even before the American remake aired, we had already sold the format rights to ‘The King of Mask Singer’ to approximately 20 countries, including England and France.”

He added, “Soon, the entire world will be remaking ‘The King of Mask Singer.'”