7 million is still quite high for a high rated lakorn, you would think that because it had high ratings most caught it on TV so they didn't need to watch on YT but I'm assuming that with the high views it was still a popular Lakorn overall and some of Thailand's viewers and international fans wanted to watch\rewatch, either way its episodes had higher views than other lakorns. Some lakorns have low ratings but its view on YT can get millions because people missed it live or cause international fans are watching. But what makes Nakee different is that it has both high ratings and high views on YouTube, making it a big hit and people in Thailand definitely loved it.
PCKN and KC, some of the popular lakorns with average rating, had lots of views (around 3-4 million) on the first part of episode 1 only and even that, Nakee's other episodes had surpassed that. It's last part has more than 30 million, making it the highest viewed, even if its not 300 million views it's still highest for a lakorn part. Nakee's ost also dominated other ch3 sound tracks too.
So yes, even though Yaya is very famous, like mentioned she wasn't even needed to be attached to Nakee, the lakorn is still powerful without her. Even though her name was not attached to Nakee the movie at first, people were already happy and asking for Taew to come back. So we can say it's a good storyline but Taew definitely nailed her role and left a mark. Congrats to her for winning lots of big awards!
Oh and about Yaya not needing any drama popularity to be riding off on, what about Duang Jai Akkanee the drama that made her FAMOUS. That lakorn made her and Nadech famous individually and as a koojin and they have been riding on the fame ever since. (Sorry Nadech!)
If they are going to have a veteran how about Aff, they look kinda similar lol