The First Frost with Bai Jing Ting and Zhang Ruo Nan Considered Bona Fide Success the First Legit C-drama Hit in 2025 So Far
The verdict is out for currently airing C-drama The First Frost starring Bai Jing Ting and Zhang Ruo Nan as it heads towards the final few episodes of its run. The modern romance, the companion story to Hidden Love, is being discussed by industry veterans as a true hit albeit not the mega breakout seminal hits of which there have been only around a dozen in the last fifteen years or so. This drama is what all dramas hope for, a solid hit with high viewership, topping online buzz ratings and video/commentary chatter, and keeping its CF brands happy with the results and onboard for the entirety of its run. The drama had 40 brands advertising and all are pleased with the results. It airs on Youku and also on Netflix China where it also tops that list. For the two leads, industry is saying this drama has leveled up Zhang Ruo Nan but won’t have any meaningful positive add or negative drag for Bai Jing Ting, due to her role being especially popular with the young men and her visuals getting a lot of commentary for being top notch here and also a surprise as before she was not known as a true visual. With that said, Douban voters don’t like this drama as the opening ratings are a low 5.4, and in comparison Hidden Love sits at 6.7.
how come it’s a success? as soon as it aired it was bombarded with negative reviews and even yunhe topping the list it is still has low viewership. It even marketed heavily but still can’t compare with hidden love. Are we following the same drama? Or you’re just spouting nonsense?
https://www.huxiu.com/article/4064836.html
打破多个纪录的《难哄》，是2025开年最火现偶.
《难哄》在开播第三天，便成为2025年第一部跻身优酷热度破万俱乐部的剧集. 对比往年，三天热度破万，是《墨雨云间》这种年度大爆款才有的待遇.
收视方面，《难哄》开播后在猫眼、灯塔、云合等多个平台热度位居第一，连续八天成为猫眼剧集热度日冠。据猫眼首周榜显示，《难哄》首周集均有效播放量达2400万+，以2024年数据而言，《难哄》已位居top10行列.
https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20250224A07ADV00
https://www.163.com/dy/article/JPBEB1GV0530WJTO.html
https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20250221A05UB100
There are so many articles on it, go enjoy the read.
It’s based on viewerships, ads and online buzz. It’s a solid hit. Every big IPs or high profile dramas have a lot of haters.
thats why dont believe on the reviewer…..they are only few of the actual viewer…China is huge…those who watch as people who looking for fun dont have time for writing review. Those who are have no job have plenty of time, thus doing negative review is their hobby. The media just picking the negative one as it make news.
I agree 👍
I really like this drama, i eagerly wait for the next episode. I like the actors, they are very good.
You are so rude. The drama even having haters has many views. The drama is good The plot and characters is good because at the same time as it seems fictional it’s kinda realistic. Many people that watch other dramas started to like cdramas because they are watching first frost. The drama is perfect.
Bro take a break . Just because you didn’t liked it, doesn’t mean others will. You just don’t have taste. The negativity was after airing. Not always. It’s a spin off hidden love. Who wouldn’t love this??
funny how you’re the one spouting nonsense. They provided pics, statistics and all and you’re just basing on your own observation. World is wide. Your POV or fyp doesn’t mean it’s the same with us. I’ve seen many ppl loving it from the beginning. I’m just going to start watching and only seen clips but this comment is rude af.
I like the drama. It’s kind of slow paced on their romance but it’s been good. I also like The Best Thing. Sweet romances with male leads who really are in love. 😄
The Best Thing for me is a sleeper hit because it’s solid. It doesn’t have heavier themes than TFF but the vibes are chill. Recommending it for others.
I didn’t expect to like this drama. I usually find it difficult to adapt to new faces portraying “old” characters (I loved the bickering brother-sister chemistry in Hidden Love so so much), but once I started viewing this as a stand-alone, I really began to love it. My second fave drama in 2025. Both leads are absolutely fantastic.
I think, it’s a huge hit. Even my friends who loves kdramas know TFF. Not to mention, the popularity on X and IG. Im not familiar with tiktok but i guess, it’s also popular in that platform. Bai Jing Ting is popular right now. Many people are praising his visual. But well, for me, Sang Yan is moee handsome than BJT himself lol.
And i really adore ZRN in this drama. She did better than her previous dramas.
Ups, sorry, my comment isnt supposed to be a reply 🙏
Don’t worry about it, happened to me too 🙂
What’s the first?
I already read some news The First Frost a huge hit before it’s even premiered. LOL
Is any C-ent news about ratings and popularity credible? 🤨🤔
Bai Jingting’s only hit drama is Reset, the rest are super watery. Destined and New Life Begins claimed to be hits too, but how many people out there know or even remember the plots?
New Life Begins and Always on the Move (2024) were the hits in China but these 2 dramas are not as popular internationally. So, he has 3 hits dramas under his belt (on 3 different streaming platforms)
BJT has 3 hits dranas under his belt, New Life Begins and Always on the Move were solid hits in China.
BJT all the dramas he acted very nice to watch, new life begins, destined and etc, I like to watch his dramas, good actor. 🥰👍💐🇲🇾❤️
I really like grow to like him in You are my hero. He was great there.
Speaking objectively as someone who doesn’t have an idol and just enjoy a drama for its quality, The First Frost is a better drama than Hidden Love. The depth of the story, the character development, and etc are so much better in TFF.
I disagree. Hidden Love is miles better. The boring grandpa storyline and the second couples lack of chemistry is skippable. I didn’t skip not one scene in Hidden Love.
I read HL novel but I couldn’t even finished its drama lol coz for me it’s so boring. TFF is much much better. I don’t read the novel but I love it from beginning. My friend onced gave me the link to HL novel said TFF novel was better than Hl and also her favourite. And yess i agree with the story and casts, TFF has better quality
I agree. Honestly I loved Hidden Love but it was so boring up to when she was in university and when they started dating. I love Lusi but zhizhi wasn’t her best role. I felt that she portrayed her highschool self to immature and cringey. Her chemistry with CZY was top notch tho. But TFF is different is more mature thus a slower drama that portrays heavier issues. It also has better quality as you said and the actirs have dine such a great job. Overall I do think it’s better but people who like easy to watch dramas with a little bit of cring thrown in will prefer Hidden Love and drop TFF on the first episodes because its “slow”.
I loved Hidden Love. Didn’t like First Frost so dropped it. Too slow for me.
Is this drama any good ?
It’s a good drama.good story,acting editing all are good. hidden love is also good drama
It didn’t get me to chase it. When I started FF, I just dropped it.
@ockoala I can no longer click beyond this article. It just ends. Thus I can no longer read new post.
i dropped the first frost, feels like the story just stays in 1 place. i like the best thing more, although it is not a perfect drama either
If we are talking about bonafide hits this year then Flourished Peony deserves to be on the list
This drama broke records, had 40 brand collaborations (same with TFF), broke record for number of ads in an episode 2 times, it is the first and only Mango TV drama to have 40M+ yunhe views (some of it’s episodes were locked early) and 30M+ kuyun views, the first and only ever Mango TV drama to hit 3. on datawin which a legit comapny that tracks real discussions from real people and not bots, it is the first and only ever drama on Migu TV to have ads (it had 2), from reports from official and government accounts and newspapers they talked about how Flourished Peony contributed to the economy by boosting the sales of peony flowers and also tourism with many of them still writing articles about it, mango TV and Hunan tv have officially announced that this drama is a hit who made a lot of profit for them and exceeded it’s KPI
Now some might come for it’s rating and cvb which was 0.39 on Hunan but they forget that this drama had a horrible schedule airing at different times instead of the scheduled time, sometimes airing as late as 9pm, number of episodes aired too was not fixed sometimes it aired 1, 2 or even half an episode and these drove away a lot of tv viewers to watch it on mango app instead
With this and many more which I can’t remember or decided not to add this drama is a solid hit. Many official and government accounts call it the first real hit of the year because of its true impact ( go argue with them not me)
Oh wow this is so nice to actually know. I plan on starting it after season 2 comes out cause I’ve heard good things about this drama from my friends
I dropped it too the female lead and supporting female just didn’t cut it. Too bad for the male lead who was perfect pick. But I can’t watch it. Hidden love was great though
Aaaaaarrrrgggghhhhhh I am so happy. I feel like crying. It’s a hit. They deserve this. Specially our female lead. She went through a lot. This kind of storyline is so underrated. Thank you so much everyone for loving this drama.
I’m seeing a lot of buzz for it on social media and it all seems very positive.
I really enjoyed all of the actors and actresses. However,the movie is so slow and somewhat boring. The ML is awesome and FL did a great job also. I think there are too many past scenes. This movie is strictly for teens and very young adults. They all looked very young, like big babies. The ending seems to be exciting.
I love it, I’m waiting for the last few episodes & will be sorry to see it end. South Africa Netflix don’t have enough of these romance series, I thrive on them. The leads were great, male lead is a dream, hope to see more of him 💘
Hidden Love was my first C Drama that I loved now it’s First Frost I wished it had more episodes. It’s gonna be sad when it ends. Hopefully the writers will continue with another C Drama like Hidden Love to First Frost. The actors and actresses did an amazing job. I applaud each and every one of you.
I think it’s a modern love story ,firstly I love the female character she’s exactly what I expected beautiful young woman and the male is lead is handsome too …it’s beautiful story
I’m from the US-ALABAMA. I love watching Korean movies. I’m not well known with the actors but I truly love the movies. This particular movie is good to me and can’t wait for the other episodes to hit. I’m watching on Netflix.i have to watch it with English caption but don’t mind it. I love it!!
I love it can’t wait for the next episodes as they air on netflix…the two main characters are super and the story line too
I think First Frost is refreshing. It is heart tugging. The story line really is deep in the issues that surround this couple.
THE FIRST FROST is a great heartwarming drama, packed with deep emotions, values, true love and written beautifully. Both leads are amazing actors. The story line keeps you captivated!
Love the show
I immensely have been enjoying The First Frost! The actors are amazing, believable and the storyline keeps me engaged with anticipation! I truly believe this is the best drama l have seen in a while and look forward to more! I would like to see more dramas with the two lead characters as they are phenomenal in the characters they brought to life!
LOVE-LOVE-LOVE FIRST FROST
I loved hidden love I’m watching first frost right now and so far I love the guy there using but the girl I’m just not liking her personality
Magnificent series absolutely love this actors and storyline. There’s tears, laughter , anger, love , absolutely magical 🥰🥰💕💕🌹🌹🌹
This is one of my favorite cdrama , i ́m so happy that it went viral before all the episodes had been released . I also recommended it to my friends but still not watching it.
I love this cdrama it’s one of my favorite . I wasn’t expecting to be in the top before all the episodes to be released i ́m so happy . I recommended it to my friends and showed them a part of the 21 episodes were i ́ m currently watching and they wanted to see a little bit , they loved it but still they aren’t watching it .
I love First Frost because of the themes that it addressed. The story can be true to to many girls in all parts of the world. It is not finished yet but I look forward to how it unravels in the end with the main characters.
I’m enjoying the show. It’s slow in some parts but it’s different from the usual Chinese shows. It’s a welcome change with more depth to the story lines. The acting by the lead actors have more depth and showed a range of emotions which is also a usual. The Douban rating was too low and I think it’s because it’s different from what the audience is used to seeing.
I love this drama soo much and enjoyed this drama.Such a unique and lovely story.Thanks for written this kind of beautiful story.
@koala can you please share which are the mega break out seminal hits? 🙏
Off the top of my head and feel free to gut check me guys:
Biggest mega once a few years type hits are: Legend of Zhen Huan, The Knockout, Nirvana in Fire, The Untamed, Joy of Life.
Solid mega hits: Eternal Love, Story of Minglan, Ashes of Love, You are My Glory, Blossoms Shanghai, Story of Yanxi Palace.