Na Young-seok's food show ratings sink to 1% as CJ ENM faces mounting pressure

2.9% → 3% → 1.3%

"Wooju Tteokjip," a food-themed variety show on tvN produced by Na Young-seok, has seen its ratings sink to the 1% range. The show opened at 2.9% and briefly edged up to 3%, but ratings fell steadily with each episode before bottoming out at 1%.

Viewers have grown increasingly vocal about their frustration with Na's formula, with comments such as "another food show — so tired of it," "different title, same show," and "they've been recycling this for too long" circulating online.

CJ ENM, which has long relied on Na's productions as flagship content, is now on alert. With falling ratings compounding already weak earnings, some analysts say the company needs to fundamentally reassess its content competitiveness.

According to Nielsen Korea, episode 10 of "Wooju Tteokjip," which aired Friday, drew a 1.3% rating — the show's lowest since it launched in late July. Episode 9 had already marked the first time the show dipped into the 1% range with a 1.8% rating, and the latest episode pushed it even lower.

"Wooju Tteokjip" features the cast of another Na Young-seok production, "Jigoo Orakshil," playing part-time workers at a rice cake shop who prepare food and serve customers. Viewers and critics say the format differs little from earlier Na productions such as "Youn's Kitchen" and "Seojin's," in which cast members cook and wait on guests.

Na's shows were once considered a guaranteed hit. But as similar formats have continued — swapping out cast members and locations while keeping the same restaurant or self-sufficiency premise — a growing number of viewers say they have grown weary of the repetition.

With the old hit formula no longer working, CJ ENM finds itself under serious pressure. The company is grappling with a pile-up of headwinds — weak earnings, a falling share price and declining ratings — and calls are growing for it to overhaul content strategies that have remained stuck in the past.

CJ ENM's share price has been unable to break out of the 35,000-won ($26) range. The stock once approached 300,000 won and has since fallen to roughly one-tenth of that level.

The earnings outlook is equally murky. Daishin Securities cut its operating profit forecast for CJ ENM for 2026 by 19.3%, from 150 billion won to 121 billion won, and trimmed its 2027 forecast by 12.2%, from 236 billion won to 208 billion won.

TV advertising sales are projected to fall 11.5% from last year to 250 billion won in 2026 — a fifth consecutive annual decline. Tving, the company's OTT service that had at least been driving growth after turning its first quarterly profit in the second quarter, still faces one-time cost burdens including customer compensation stemming from a hacking incident.

As Netflix tightens its grip on the media landscape, calls are growing for CJ ENM to conduct a full reassessment of its content competitiveness.

With Netflix now dominating not only drama series and films but also the variety show space, some analysts say strengthening content competitiveness beyond past hit-making formulas has become an urgent priority.