<figure id="attachment_301961" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-301961" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="1e51c32d"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/03/aflo_213576958.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-301961" class="wp-caption-text">Moments after the March 16 quarterfinal against Italy, I spotted Fletcher, an Angels colleague who was on the opposing team. The carefree smile he shows when he relaxes attracts women in their 50s in particular (Photo: Afro)</figcaption></figure>
<p> The TV ratings for the Tokyo round of the World Baseball Classic (WBC), in which Samurai Japan participated, exceeded 40% (household average) for five consecutive games. FRIDAY Digital obtained a partial list of terrestrial TV ratings for the five games from the first round game against China to the quarterfinal game against Italy. It was found that the viewership by women in their 50s or older, which is never seen in other live sports broadcasts, was significantly higher. This fever, which could not be seen even at the World Cup soccer tournament at the end of last year, is attributed to the presence of major league teams led by Shohei Otani (28) and others.</p>
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<h3> First case where a high percentage of viewers in their 50s were women.</h3>
<p> In these days when &#8220;15%&#8221; is considered a passable rating in prime time (7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.), Japan&#8217;s five WBC games in a row exceeded 40% in the TV ratings. An advertising agency official in charge of sports broadcasting rights contracts revealed, &#8220;Before the start of the WBC, we had no idea how many viewers would tune in to the games.</p>
<p><strong> Before the opening of the WBC, we had predicted that the Japan-Korea match on March 10, which is the most exciting rivalry matchup in any sport, would exceed 40% or not. I am very happy to see the viewer rating exceed 40% for five consecutive games. This is exactly what we did not expect.</strong></p>
<p> Japanese professional baseball has been branded as &#8220;not getting viewer ratings,&#8221; and the trend of withdrawing from prime-time broadcasting has been unstoppable. Last year, even the final game of the Japan Series between Yakult and Orix, which went all the way to Game 7, received only a 13.4% viewership rating.</p>
<p> The World Cup Soccer Tournament, which began about a month later, saw Japan&#8217;s national team defeat past champions Germany and Spain, and the second first-round match between Japan and Costa Rica drew a 42.9% household average (all figures are from Video Research, Inc. in the Kanto area). (35.3% household average), which was also a distant second place. The number of viewers reached 10 million in the first round league game against Germany and rose to 17 million in the third round game against Spain. The number of viewers for the match against Croatia, which was expected to be the first time for Japan to make the top eight, was so astonishingly high that the viewing limit was imposed even though it was late at night.</p>
<p> In addition, Prime Video, a video distribution service provided and operated by Amazon, will stream live all of Japan&#8217;s WBC games, as well as the quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals, and there were concerns that the presence of terrestrial sports broadcasting would decline as the Internet took the lead.</p>
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<p> An analysis of the unbelievably high viewership ratings, revealed by a commercial broadcaster, &#8220;I never thought it would exceed Japan&#8217;s national team at the World Cup soccer tournament,&#8221; revealed one surprising result.</p>
<p><strong> We have data that shows which generation is watching every minute and by how much, and it was expected that men in their 50s and older would come in first in terms of age. I think this WBC is the first time that such a high percentage of women in their 50s watched a sports broadcast. Shohei Otani&#8217;s presence is significant,&#8221; said a director in charge of sports at a commercial TV station.</strong></p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" If Otani were a popular announcer, he would be ......"></div>
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<figure id="attachment_301962" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-301962" style="width: 686px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="8cd969a0"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/03/5c4fb252ab1276a500242230f2491885.jpeg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-301962" class="wp-caption-text">From left to right, Nutobar, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Otani pose for a commemorative photo at Tokyo Dome. Nutobar&#8217;s addition also ignited the women&#8217;s enthusiasm for cheering (photo taken from Shohei Otani&#8217;s Instagram @shoheiohtani).</figcaption></figure>
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<h3> Women in their 50s and older were enthusiastic about all five games of the Samurai Japan</h3>
<p> In the quarterfinal game against Italy on March 16, which was Ohtani&#8217;s second appearance in the WBC and his fastest since joining the majors at 164 kilometers per hour, and which received a 48% viewership rating, 32.7% of viewers were female 50+ (F3 demographic), a figure that was close to the 34.2% male 50+ demographic. Comparing men and women in the 35-49 age group for this match, women outnumbered men 7.3% to 9.1%. Why was this so popular among women? TV producer Hiromichi Chinmoku revealed, &#8220;The biggest reason, of course, is the popularity of Oyasama.</p>
<p><strong> The biggest reason, I think, is that Otani, Nutebuhr, and Darvish are by far the three most popular among women in their 50s. They are all good-looking, they can play baseball, they are cool, they are fresh, and they are from the real majors. I think their smartness, which is different from the image of the doughty, athletic types, may have helped them gain a favorable impression among women.</strong></p>
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<p> According to Chinmoku, women in their 50s have a high affinity for baseball. NTV broadcasts live baseball games every day in prime time, and they are of the generation that naturally watched their fathers&#8217; live baseball games.</p>
<p><strong> Many of them know the rules of baseball even if they don&#8217;t understand the rules of soccer,&#8221; said Chinmoku.</strong></p>
<p> Furthermore, younger generations tend to stay home after 6:00 p.m., when live baseball games start, but women in their 50s tend to start watching TV at that time. However, even if the conditions for watching the games are met, this does not immediately translate into viewer ratings. There are certain conditions that are indispensable for getting viewer ratings on TV.</p>
<p><strong> In the world of television, you need to be popular among women in order to get the numbers you want,&#8221; he said. In that sense, the three players I just mentioned have one thing in common: they have no elements that women dislike. From the viewer&#8217;s point of view, men have a positive evaluation, but women have a negative evaluation. For example, even if a man feels that he &#8220;dislikes&#8221; a certain performer on TV, he will watch the show if he likes the way he looks or if he finds it interesting. However, the opposite is true for women. If they find even one element they don&#8217;t like about a certain performer, they tend to stop watching that person&#8217;s program.</strong></p>
<p><strong> For example, Shinichiro Azumi of TBS, Shinichi Hatori and Taichi Masu, who are now freelance, are characters that women don&#8217;t dislike, men don&#8217;t dislike, and no one dislikes them. That&#8217;s why they have been hosting information programs that women often watch in the morning and afternoon,&#8221; said Chinmoku.</strong></p>
<p> Not only did Otani show the expected results on the field with his two-faced batting style. Darvish, the oldest player on the team, participated in the Samurai Japan camp that started on February 17, actively giving advice to the younger players and showing up at many dinner meetings to blend in with his teammates.</p>
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<p> Furthermore, when Nutobar, who qualified for the Japan team because his mother has Japanese nationality, joined the team midway through the tournament, his teammates welcomed him wearing &#8220;Tacchan T-shirts,&#8221; a play on Nutobar&#8217;s middle name, &#8220;Tatsuji,&#8221; as reported in the media. The fact that people can watch the tournament knowing the personalities and stories of the players before the start of the tournament has had a big impact on the popularity of the WBC.</p>
<p><strong> Women in their 50s who are married with children often have sons the same age as Otani, so they may be able to relate to the players emotionally. Especially that carefree smile of Otani&#8217;s is refreshing and hard to do.</strong></p>
<p><strong> I am sure Otani has studied the language quite a bit, but even so, he may not have been able to communicate easily at first. If she had to blend in with other players in such a situation, I think she would have compensated for her handicap by means other than words, such as using physical actions or expressing her intentions with a fresh smile, etc. As a woman in her 50s, I think she could see such a story and it would tickle her so-called maternal instinct, In a sense, I think they are looking at the idealistic image that they would like their children&#8217;s generation to have,&#8221; said Chinmoku.</strong></p>
<p> Ohtani&#8217;s participation in the WBC may have been valuable in the sense that it showed the potential for terrestrial TV stations, which had been struggling in sports broadcasting, to come back to life once again.</p>
<figure id="attachment_301963" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-301963" style="width: 681px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="f74f98ea"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/03/d6f667515bce507a1024eb20c46b2643.jpeg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-301963" class="wp-caption-text"> From the Instagram (@darvishsefat11) of Yu Darvish, the oldest player on the team. Posts that let us know the players&#8217; faces and personalities before the tournament also led to high viewership.</figcaption></figure>


 The TV ratings for the Tokyo round of the World Baseball Classic (WBC), in which Samurai Japan participated, exceeded 40% (household average) for five consecutive games. The national excitement has been growing.

Women over 50″ were crazy about Shohei Ohtani, whose daily viewer rating exceeded 40%!

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