Titles · drama
Korea's Doctor X Remake Sent English Wikipedia Readers to the Japanese Original: 9,288 in a Day
Doctor X: Mafia in White, SBS's remake of TV Asahi's Doctor-X, premiered on 9 October. English Wikipedia's page on the Japanese original went from a median 1,059 reads a day to 9,288 on 11 October, more than lead Kim Ji-won drew that day.
Doctor X: Mafia in White premiered on SBS on 9 October 2026. It is a Korean remake of TV Asahi’s long-running Doctor-X: Surgeon Michiko Daimon, with Kim Ji-won as the surgeon who works alone and never fails. Within a week it led Netflix’s global non-English TV list (where it charted, and where it didn’t), and in Korea Star News reported a rating of 17.5%.
English Wikipedia shows what else it did: it sent readers looking for the Japanese show it came from.
The original, the remake and the cast
| English Wikipedia page | Usual day (median, 1 Sep–8 Oct) | Opening weekend peak | 18 Oct |
|---|---|---|---|
| Doctor X: Mafia in White (the remake) | under 50 before launch | 21,479 (10 Oct) | 18,933 |
| Doctor-X: Surgeon Michiko Daimon (the Japanese original) | 1,059 | 9,288 (11 Oct) | 7,557 |
| Kim Ji-won (lead) | 1,055 | 6,940 (11 Oct) | 5,381 |
| Jang Seung-jo | 328 | 939 (10 Oct) | 5,493 |
| Kim Woo-seok | 212 | 4,205 (10–11 Oct) | 3,724 |
| Son Hyun-joo | 279 | — | 2,208 |
| Lee Jung-eun | 398 | — | 2,155 |
On 11 October the Japanese original’s page drew 9,288 reads, nearly nine times its usual day, and more than Kim Ji-won’s own page (6,940). A week later, on the second weekend, it was still at 7,557.
Second weekend, new names
The second weekend moved readers to the supporting cast. Jang Seung-jo, whose character Kim Ji-won’s surgeon brings down in the latest episodes (as Star News put it), went from a usual 328 reads to 5,493 on 18 October, about 17 times normal and more than the lead that day. Kim Woo-seok, playing the intern, rose by a similar multiple. Korean entertainment press reported Kim Woo-seok topping search keywords for two weeks running.
What this does and does not say
A remake usually borrows an audience. Here, the traffic also ran the other way. English-language viewers met the Korean version first, then went to read about the Japanese series behind it, which began in 2012. Wikipedia reads count look-ups, not viewers. They cannot tell us whether anyone then went on to watch the original.
English Wikipedia pageviews (Wikimedia REST API), user traffic, daily. Ratings as reported by Star News.
Where these numbers come from
Sources
- Wikimedia — Pageviews per-article, en.wikipedia, user traffic only (bots excluded), daily, 1 September–23 October 2026: 'Doctor X: Mafia in White', 'Doctor-X: Surgeon Michiko Daimon', 'Kim Ji-won', 'Kim Woo-seok (actor)', 'Jang Seung-jo', 'Lee Jung-eun (actress)', 'Son Hyun-joo'. · https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/
- English Wikipedia, Doctor X: Mafia in White — Series facts: SBS TV, first aired 9 October 2026; remake of TV Asahi's Doctor-X: Surgeon Michiko Daimon; starring Kim Ji-won, Lee Jung-eun, Son Hyun-joo and Kim Woo-seok. Read 25 October 2026. · https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_X:_Mafia_in_White
- Star News — Ratings reported 24–25 October 2026: 17.5% for the latest episode, with a peak minute of 21.3%.
What we checked
- Baseline: median of 1 September–8 October 2026.
- Doctor-X: Surgeon Michiko Daimon (Japanese original): baseline 1,059; 10 Oct 7,642; 11 Oct 9,288; 18 Oct 7,557.
- Doctor X: Mafia in White: 3 Oct 32; 10 Oct 21,479; 11 Oct 20,730; 17 Oct 17,274; 18 Oct 18,933.
- Kim Ji-won: baseline 1,055; 10 Oct 6,861; 11 Oct 6,940; 18 Oct 5,381.
- Jang Seung-jo: baseline 327.5; 17 Oct 3,964; 18 Oct 5,493 (×16.8).
- Kim Woo-seok (actor): baseline 212; 10 Oct 4,205; 18 Oct 3,724 (×17.6).
What we left out, and why
- Japanese and Korean Wikipedia, which we did not measure for this piece.
- Episode-by-episode ratings, which we did not verify beyond the reported figures.
- 24 October onward, not yet published by Wikimedia when we wrote.
Written from the same data
- Lisa and Minnie Released EPs on the Same Day. On Thai Wikipedia, Minnie Out-Read Lisa
- Minnie's First Thai EP Lifted Thai Wikipedia Reads Nearly Sevenfold. Chinese Wikipedia Still Read Her More
- BTS in Latin America: Spanish Wikipedia Is Reading BTS More Than English Wikipedia for the First Time This Year
If you work in this business
Everything on this page is measured from the same weekly Netflix lists, per market and per title. We publish the pages free; what we sell is the same measurement cut to one company's catalogue.
What a company sheet contains, and what it cannot tell you →
What do you make of this?
We counted it. What it means is yours to decide.