Japanese TV Ratings Released into the Public Domain
Normally closely guarded data and analytics provide a snapshot of viewing habits and the most popular programs in Japan.
What’s new: Similar to the Nielsen ratings in the U.S., Toyo Keizai Online has just released a special report entitled "Nationwide Viewership Ranking of Five Non-Public TV Stations" to visualize data related to the number of viewers1 of popular TV programs.
Why it matters: Such information is rarely released to the public and provides clues as to what Japanese people are watching on television. The related analyses are, of course, extremely valuable to advertisers in deciding when and where to place television commercials. While there are enough clues here to generate some insights, much more cross-tabulation would be needed before committing to a major financial investment in an expensive television commercial.
Context: Even against the constant onslaught of internet browsing, streaming services, and online gaming, Japanese television—including some of the world's most quirky programming—remains relatively popular in Japan. However, even for the most seasoned Japanophiles and language students, some of the most popular "variety" shows often present an almost insurmountable barrier to full comprehension.
By the numbers: These reports exclude data from public television stations operated by Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai (日本放送協会・NHK), which translates to Japan Broadcasting Corporation in English. Toyo Keizai Online obtained the private data from the Japanese survey company Intage. The data have been segmented by the average number of viewers (nationwide) for each program during limited time periods. The data released include rankings of specific programs among selected viewer cohorts, as well as viewership by category.
Specific Cohorts: The data are, apparently, routinely broken down into specific groups of viewers. While you would expect to see a breakdown by gender, it is also possible to collect results from some rather unusual subgroups, such as the subset of online gamers. Each program has been color-coded to make it easy to identify similar interests (same program) among the different cohorts.
All Viewers: The top three shows among all viewers are virtually tied in the rankings. In first place is Interesting Human Gourmet Store (ヒューマングルメンタリーオモウマイ店), which is for foodies. The show seeks out previously undiscovered local favorites from haute cuisine to hole-in-the-wall restaurants across the country. It is hosted by popular television personalities Hiromi Kozono (小園 浩己) and Eiji Kotoge (小峠英二).
The Strong Arm Dash (ザ!鉄腕!DASH!), a perennial favorite for more than a quarter of a century, came in second. It is an example of an unconventional challenge where the contestants have to work on various long-term reconstruction projects. Sometimes these projects can be quite physically demanding, but the show has developed a winning formula that shows no signs of slowing down.
Political Watchdog Truth Report (真相報道バンキシャ) came in third. The goal is to inform viewers about current events. The show starts with two or three of the hottest news stories of the week. It has been going strong for more than two decades.
Children: The definition of this cohort includes "children" from birth to age 19. So a little more granularity would be useful. In any case, virtually any Japanese person would be able to guess which program has the highest ratings. It was Sazae-san (サザエさん), an animated television series that has occupied the same time slot (Sundays at 6:30 p.m.) since its first episode aired on October 5, 1969. The anime, based on the manga of the same name by Machiko Hasegawa, depicts the daily lives of the Isono and Fuguda families. The main character, Sazae-san, is a beloved figure in Japan. She exudes the moral qualities that have long been revered in Japanese culture (e.g. respect for elders, etc.). The program is so popular that it holds the Guinness World Record as the longest-running animated television program in the world.
Endless Pranks Grand Prix (芸能人が本気で考えた!ドッキリGP) came in second. This show features celebrities trying to pull pranks and recording the reactions of their victims. Bam Margera would no doubt agree wholeheartedly if he could understand Japanese.
Breakthrough File (THE突破ファイル) rounded out the top three. Using the ever-popular quiz format, this show dramatizes real-life breakthroughs of people who were able to overcome rather desperate situations through surprising flashes of brilliance.
Seniors: The seventy-plus crowd, which includes a sizable portion of Japan's population, probably watches mostly NHK and therefore would not be fully represented in this report, but their favorite on commercial television is a wonderful show called A House in the Middle of Nowhere (ポツンと一軒家). The program is about an individual, couple, or family living in a house in an extremely remote location (e.g., deep in the woods, at the top of a mountain, on a remote island, etc.). Supposedly satellite imagery is used to find suitable candidates.
Political Watchdog Truth Report (真相報道バンキシャ) came in second.
Comic Relief (笑点), a comedy showcase that can be directly translated as "laughing point," has been on the air continuously since May 15, 1966. It ranked third.
Adult Men: #2 (overall) The Strong Arm Dash (ザ!鉄腕!DASH!) and #1 (overall) Interesting Human Gourmet Store (ヒューマングルメンタリーオモウマイ店) were the top two favorites among adult males aged 20 to 69. While you might be wondering if the Japanese equivalent of Jackass would be on the list for the guys, it turns out that third place went to a mundane news show called Information 7 Days Newscaster (情報7daysニュースキャスター).
Adult Women: The overwhelming favorite among adult women aged 20 to 69 was the FNS Music Festival (FNS歌謡祭), which averaged more than 4 million viewers. It started as an annual song competition in 1974 and has been broadcast in early December ever since. Most fans know the show simply as "FNS.” In the beginning, the artists performed a few songs each in turn, but from 2005 to the present, the number of collaborations (joint performances) between artists increased, and the format of having one artist take the stage several times in rotation was established.
The venue has two stages, one at each end, facing each other. Performances alternate between the two stages, giving artists and performers on one side the opportunity to change sets while performers on the opposite stage perform, allowing for a quick flow of the show. Round tables are set up between the two stages, and the artists sit between performances to watch. A few years ago, FNS moved to a two-day format to accommodate all the acts. This spawned a summer session that now airs every year in either late July or early August.
Adult women also liked Breakthrough File (THE突破ファイル) and Interesting Human Gourmet Store (ヒューマングルメンタリーオモウマイ店), which came in second and third.
Company Directors and Managers: News Flash! Surprise, surprise, when they are not slaving away at the office, corporate executives and managers seem to spend their time watching news programs on television. TBS's Information 7 Days Newscaster (情報7daysニュースキャスター) just barely beat out competition from two other news programs called Mr. Sunday (Mr. サンデー) and News Report Station (報道ステーション).
Investors: It was a similar story among those who were highly aware of their investments. There is, naturally, probably a fair degree of overlap between these two cohorts. Investors also liked the Political Watchdog Truth Report (真相報道バンキシャ), which came in third.
TikTok Users: As a proxy for Gen Z, TikTok users liked Go to the End of the World (世界の果てまでイッテQ!), an adventure variety show set in locations around the world, from the Amazon rainforest to the Arctic Circle.
TikTok users also liked FNS and the Interesting Human Gourmet Store (ヒューマングルメンタリーオモウマイ店).
Online Gamers: In baseball-crazy Japan, online gamers loved the brand-new sports drama series Sunday Theater Gekkokujo Kyuji (日曜劇場『下剋上球児』), also known as "Worst to First: A Teen Baseball Miracle." It stars popular actor Ryohei Suzuki (鈴木亮平) as the fictional character Shuji Nagumo, who coaches a high school baseball team. This show features a large cast of young actors, which is undoubtedly a strong draw for younger online gamers.
This group also liked The Strong Arm Dash (ザ!鉄腕!DASH!) and Breakthrough File (THE突破ファイル).
Fashion Conscious: Japanese fashionistas and fashionistos are big fans of FNS, Sunday Theater Gekkokujo Kyuji (日曜劇場『下剋上球児』), and, curiously, Political Watchdog Truth Report (真相報道バンキシャ).
Fans of Starbucks: First, it is interesting to note that Intage actually tracks the viewing habits of people who routinely visit Starbucks, in particular. In any case, it seems that people who need to start their day with a dose of sugary caffeine seem to like pretty much what everyone else watches on TV. They liked the Interesting Human Gourmet Store (ヒューマングルメンタリーオモウマイ店) best, as well as FNS. Perhaps all that coffee keeps them up late so they can stay awake for the talk show Monday Late Show (月曜から夜ふかし), which airs from 10 to 11 p.m, and finished in third place.
Viewership by Category: For the three-month period from September 25 to December 10, 2023, analytics were also released for ratings trends among the top shows in selected categories.
Dramatic Series: The first episode of Sunday Theater Gekkokujo Kyuji (日曜劇場『下剋上球児』) aired on October 15, 2023, and it quickly rose to the top of all dramas. Its viewership is currently around 7 million viewers per episode.
Tokyo Detective Duo (相棒 season22) is in second place, and another new show called What the Live-in Helper Saw 6 (家政夫のミタゾノ6) rounded out the top three with over 5 million viewers per episode consistently. 3rd place is really just a modern iteration of a popular dramatic series with a similar name that ran continuously from 1983 to 2008.
General Information “Wide Show” Programs: Wake up TV (めざましテレビ), is a combination of the day's news along with commentary. The show starts just before 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. every weekday and is watched by millions of viewers as they eat their breakfast. It dominates the non-public airwaves in the early morning and includes a wide demographic as its audience. Curiously, it was launched with the slogan, "It's a radio you watch and a TV you listen to...Consider it a wake-up call."
Shows with a similar format, called the Shinichi Hatori2 Morning Show (羽鳥慎一モーニングショー) and ZIP! jockey for position in the second and third slots, with about 1.5 million fewer viewers each per episode than Wake up TV.
Anime / Cartoons: Sazae-san (サザエさん) still dominates this segment.
Another long-running anime based on an even older manga called Chibi Maruko-chan (ちびまる子ちゃん) occupied 2nd place. Each episode follows the fictional character Chibi Maruko-chan, a third grader growing up in the town of Shimizu near Mt. Fuji, as she experiences life in Japan in the early 1970s. Both of these anime are generally considered relatively "safe" for younger children to watch without adult supervision.
A close third place finish was Case Closed (名探偵コナン), which has been on the air since 1996. It also has its roots in an even older manga. It is about a high school detective, the fictional character Shinichi Kudo, who was transformed into a boy by a black-robed organization and goes by the name Conan Edogawa.
Take-aways: So what can we learn from all this data?
The market is relatively fragmented. Even the most popular drama series, Sunday Theater Gekkokujo Kyuji (日曜劇場『下剋上球児』), only reached a total of 8,425,000 viewers during its single most popular episode. Considering that the current population of Japan is approximately 126 million people, that high point only represented a penetration rate of just under 7%. In other words, 93% of the population was either watching or doing something else. While there are a few exceptionally popular television programs that capture large swaths of the population on certain days3, such programs are few and far between.
Compared to the other subsets of viewers, more adult women seem to watch the same programs as their fellow cohort members—especially FNS.
Japan is a nation of foodies. Thus, it is no surprise that Interesting Human Gourmet Store (ヒューマングルメンタリーオモウマイ店) was ranked as the #1 show in the country.
Nihon TV dominates overall, but Fuji TV has found a way to capture a lot of eyeballs (and eardrums) with FNS. TV Asahi is killing it in the dramatic series segment with its hits Tokyo Detective Duo (相棒 season22) and What the Live-in Helper Saw 6 (家政夫のミタゾノ6). It comes as no surprise that this network has found success with the tried-and-true formula of a police drama. Along with the ever-popular hospital drama genre, there always seems to be an audience for this type of soap opera.
Seniors like nostalgia, as exemplified by A House in the Middle of Nowhere (ポツンと一軒家). Most 70 and over viewers are, however, probably underrepresented among viewers of non-public channels, as most keep their dials set primarily to NHK's two terrestrial stations.
News Flash: Corporate types and those who follow their investments closely watch the news...Nothing to see here!
Japanese viewers have many long-running favorites such as Sazae-san (サザエさん), Comic Relief (笑点), and The Strong Arm Dash (ザ!鉄腕!DASH!). However, a limited number of brand-new programs can have breakout success, such as Sunday Theater Gekkokujo Kyuji (日曜劇場『下剋上球児』), which is only a few months old.
What’s next: Television viewing is facing stiff competition from internet browsing and streaming services in virtually every global market, including Japan. The shift to on-demand content and the convenience of streaming platforms have led to changes in consumer behavior. However, traditional television still holds an important place in Japanese culture, and many people continue to watch TV programs, especially for news and local content. Because change in Japan tends to be incremental, it is highly likely that commercial television will be around for decades to come.
Links to Japanese Sources: https://toyokeizai.net/articles/-/673482 and https://toyokeizai.net/sp/visual/tko/dashboard/TVshow-ratings/
#TVratings #televisionratings #viewership #TVaudience #ratingsshare #テレビ視聴率 #視聴者数 #テレビ視聴者 #レーティングシェア
Data were extrapolated from actual measurements of approximately 24,000 viewers across the country.
Mr. Shinichi Hatori is a popular television personality.
The highest recorded rating for a Japanese television program was NHK's Annual Red vs. White Singing Contest, which aired on December 31, 1963 and was seen by 81.4% of the country. Source: Shakai Jisseki Data Zuroku (社会実績データ図録).
Why am I not surprised that Number One is a cooking show?
You seem to have confused 家政夫のミタゾノ, a satirical look at current events, with the shows it loosely parodies/derives it's name from: 家政婦のミタ / 家政婦は見た!
Mitazono has run six series, debuting in 2016, while the original Mita debuted in 1983 (and the newer version in 2011.)