49 Ads Crammed into 4 Episodes: Watching Nine Gates Feels Like an Obstacle Course

Hit play on episode one of Nine Gates, and the drama barely gets a word in before an ad slides in — the thirteenth of that single episode. Across the first four installments, viewers count a whopping 49 sponsored interruptions, more than twelve per episode on average. The running joke online: skip the show, just watch the ad reel.

The headline sponsor, milk-formula brand Jinlingchun, plants its flag front and center, making Nine Gates only the third drama this year to land a title-sponsor deal of its own. While critics wait to see if the plot holds up, the brand is already racking up screen time.

Fans, meanwhile, have developed a new skill: mashing the fast-forward button while still nailing every slogan out loud. In this version of Nine Gates, the real scene-stealer isn't William Chan — it's the ever-smiling logo that shows up before he does.