HOY TV’s freshman sitcom Your Security Guard Lee Po-on opened to a stellar television peak of 9.4 points on October 26, 2026, before ratings sharply retreated to 4.9 points by Thursday, October 29.
The Reality Behind the Numbers
- The Ratings Rollercoaster: The show debuted to an impressive 9.4-point peak before sliding down to 4.9 points (roughly 300,000 viewers) by Thursday night, prompting swift executive intervention.
- Digital Dominance: While linear television ratings contracted, the digital ecosystem told a different story, with the first-episode clip surging past over 100萬大關 and total views for the first four installments clearing 超過220萬.
A High-Stakes Primetime Clash and Digital Divergence
When Your Security Guard Lee Po-on premiered on HOY TV, it instantly disrupted the local television landscape. Starring veteran actor Lee Sheung-ching alongside Lo Chung-yin, Mak Pui-tung, Tsang Jui-chi, and Wong Yiu-hung, the production managed to rattle its dominant rival. According to Sing Tao Headline, the broadcast performance immediately forced TVB to scramble its schedule for the competing sitcom Come Home Love: The Third Generation, pulling classic cast members back into rotation to defend its timeslot.
Yet, the linear audience proved fickle. After peaking at 9.4 points on launch night, the numbers bled out over the week, bottoming out at 4.9 points—representing an audience of approximately 300,000 viewers—by Thursday, October 29, as reported by on.cc. But the math on digital platforms tells an entirely different story. According to on.cc, the series crossed the million-view threshold for its premiere clip almost overnight, while cumulative views for the first four episodes surpassed 超過220萬 across digital channels. That massive disconnect highlights a fundamental generational split: younger viewers are streaming the property on-demand, while traditional television audiences are tuning out just as fast.
Confronting the Critics in a Live Television Town Hall
Rather than hiding behind PR statements, the creative team leaned directly into the crossfire. On Friday, October 30, HOY TV pulled its scheduled fifth episode to air a live “Question and Answer Assembly,” putting director Chan Tai-lee and producer Philip Yung front and center to address an avalanche of online grievances. Sing Tao Headline detailed the extraordinary transparency of the broadcast, where viewers slammed the show as a “student production,” criticized the cold, dim security office lighting, and complained about an overload of cringe-inducing wordplay and rapid-fire rhyming gags.
Director Chan Tai-lee didn’t flinch from the feedback, offering a public bow and apology during the broadcast. “People say it looks like a student production; it genuinely is a student production, because I am a student at shooting sitcoms and I am still learning,” Chan admitted, noting the grueling production pace of turning out 20 minutes of broadcast footage daily. Producer Philip Yung added crucial context regarding the budget constraints, revealing to Sing Tao Headline that the main security office set was actually repurposed from an HR office on the seventh floor of the Cable TV building—operating on resources far below traditional studio standards.
| Metric | Opening Performance (Mon, Oct 26) | Midweek Retraction (Thu, Oct 29) |
|---|---|---|
| Peak TV Ratings | 9.4 points | 4.9 points (~300,000 viewers) |
| Digital Engagement | Episode 1 clip crossed over 100萬 views | Episodes 1-4 surpassed 超過220萬 total views |
| Production Response | Immediate primetime hype | Special Q&A broadcast; rewriting and re-editing scripts |
Reshaping the Production Line Under the Microscope
The feedback loop has already altered the trajectory of the series. Responding directly to viewer complaints about an excess of nonsensical puns and meme-heavy comedy, Chan confirmed that he personally instructed the editing bay to excise redundant wordplay and dialogue. In some cases, the production is looking at complete reshoots to restore a more natural rhythm to the dialogue.
At the same time, the show’s breakout cast members continue to generate organic cultural traction. As HK01 noted, actor Mak Pui-tung—who plays the slacker security guard “Mak Fung” and famously earned a Best Actor nomination at the Hong Kong Film Awards for his harrowing work in The Sparring Partner—has brought a distinct theatrical weight to the low-budget comedy.
With the production team actively crowdsourcing narrative ideas from social media—including fan-favorite pitches for romantic subplots involving the cleaning staff—the future of the series hinges on how quickly it can adapt. As HOY TV monitors the fallout from its bold transparency experiment, the industry will be watching to see if a hyper-responsive, low-budget sitcom can successfully bridge the gap between volatile linear ratings and soaring digital engagement.
