K-Pop Reality Show Tops July’s Wit List

The South Korean reality show NCT: Universe: LASTART garnered the most followers on Instagram out of all the new series that made their debut in July, according to The WIT.

After premiering on TVING/ENA at the end of July, the series picked up 185,000 Instagram followers, aided by the following of its artistic directors, singers Key (9.7 million), BoA (4.2 million) and Eunhyuk. The show aims to choose the members of a new K-pop boy band from the SM Entertainment agency, creators of the boy band NCT.

In second place with 114,000 followers, the Turkish romantic drama Ya Çok Seversen (If You Love) debuted on Kanal D in early July. It tells the story of Ateş, who lives abroad alone and does not trust anyone, and Leyla, who never knew her real family and earns money by deceiving people. Kerem Bürsin (11.4 million followers) and Hafsanur Sancaktutan (1.2 million) star in the lead roles.

Another Kanal D drama, Dönence (Daylight), took third place with 92,000 followers. Adapted from the Israeli scripted format Exceptional, the series stars Caner Topçu (2 million followers), Sümeyye Aydoğan (1.3 million) and Atakan Hoşgören (914,000). It follows a popular blogger who is forced to accompany her 15-year-old autistic sister to a youth sailing camp for people with special needs.

The fourth spot went to Yaz Şarkısı (Summer Song), which earned 51,000 followers after its debut on FOX in Turkey. Starring Nilsu Berfin Aktaş (2.5 million followers), Mustafa Mert Koç (1 million), Yeşim Ceren Bozoğlu (209,000) and Efekan Can (202,000), it centers on Kenan and Murat, who dream of making it as musicians and start their own band in Istanbul.

Ruhun Duymaz (Your Spirit Doesn’t Hear), another series from FOX Turkey, rounds out the top five with 48,000 followers. The thriller romantic comedy follows a successful intelligence agent who was promoted to head the department at a young age and has been after the owner of Turkey’s largest jewelry company. Burcu Özberk, Şükrü Özyıldız and Aslı Sümen star, bringing their own sizable followings with them. Özberk has 9.5 million followers, while Özyıldız and Sümen have 2 million and 730,000, respectively.

The Spanish game show Grand Prix racked up 43,000 followers after its July 24 premiere on La 1 to take sixth place. The new version of the show sees two towns go head-to-head in silly challenges to see who can score the most points. Ramón García, who has 18,000 followers, hosts the series.

Marilina: Atreverse a soñar (Marilina: Dare to Dream), with 42,000 followers for seventh place, is a biographical series chronicling the life of one of Paraguay’s most beloved and popular singers, Marilina Bogado, from her childhood to her breakthrough in music, including her time on television. The Telefuturo series stars Hector Lozzca (20,000 followers) and Jazmin Bogarin (8,000).

In eighth place with 31,000 Instagram followers, Hulu and Disney+’s animated sci-fi comedy Futurama, from The Simpsons creator Matt Groening, returned for an 11th season on July 24. It features the voices of Katey Sagal (594,000 followers), Lauren Tom (151,000), Phil LaMarr (81,000) and John DiMaggio (53,000).

The factual program Safe Zone, which premiered on YouTube in France, sees Faustin Bollaert invite social media content creators to share their stories and how they cope with the pressure of their lives. Aided by Bollaert’s own following count of 455,000, the show garnered 27,000 after its July 9 debut to land in ninth place.

Closing out July’s list, ¡Vaya vacaciones! (Holy Holidays) scored 16,000 followers after premiering in Spain on Telecinco. The reality competition, hosted by Luján Argüelles, sees eight celebrity couples (or one celebrity with their child, ex, best friend, etc.) undergo unexpected challenges and experience holidays with a twist: for once, they are not clients but are at their service. Argüelles has 107,000 followers of her own.

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