[Sports Seoul | Reporter Lee Dong-yoon] Actor Park Ji-hoon has climbed to the top of the rising-star brand reputation rankings after his film The Man Who Lives with the King surpassed 15 million viewers.
On March 29, the Korea Corporate Reputation Research Institute said Park led its rising-star rankings. The institute analyzed 91,029,561 pieces of rising-star brand data collected from Feb. 28 through Mar. 29, measuring engagement, media coverage, communication and community indices.
Park recorded an engagement index of 1,373,525, a media index of 1,364,914, a communication index of 4,565,898 and a community index of 1,624,974, for a total brand reputation score of 8,929,311, placing him first. Wooz ranked second, Kim Yong-bin third, Joo Woo-jae fourth and Stray Kids fifth.
Koo Chang-hwan, director of the Korea Corporate Reputation Research Institute, said the March 2026 big-data analysis shows Park Ji-hoon at No. 1. Compared with February’s 84,028,008 pieces of rising-star data, this represents an 8.33% increase. In detail, brand consumption fell 2.54%, brand issues dropped 1.52%, brand communication rose 21.28%, and brand spread increased 2.99%.
Born in 1999, Park Ji-hoon began as a child actor and has built a solid acting foundation as both a singer and actor. He debuted with Wanna One after appearing on Produce 101 Season 2 in 2017, then transitioned to acting and earned praise for nuanced performances in Weak Hero: Class 1 and The Man Who Lives with the King.
The Man Who Lives with the King is set in Cheongryeongpo in 1457 and follows the young, dethroned King Danjong, exiled from the court, and the villagers of Gwangcheon-gol who take him in. According to the Korean Film Council’s integrated box office system, the film drew 225,125 viewers the previous day, bringing its cumulative total to 15,427,335. ldy17@sportsseoul.com
