Wednesday’s Downtown” also has many “sponsor-oriented projects”? Terrestrial TV always looking out for its sponsors’ interests

ABEMA’s variety program “Chance no Jikan (Time of Opportunity),” broadcast on April 30, has attracted attention for its drastic attempt.

The program’s project, “The 2nd Grand Pachinko Tournament! Who is the strongest pachinko professional in the entertainment industry? a commercial by the KIBUN PACHI-PACHI Committee of the Japan Pachinko Industry Association, a group of 37 pachinko manufacturers, featuring Kou Shibasaki (41), was aired intensively during the program.

The pachinko and pachislot projects of “Time of Opportunity” are very popular among viewers. The sponsors’ desire to reach out to the viewers must have been at work.

At ABEMA, “it is not unusual to create programs with sponsors’ wishes in mind.

We broadcast a live race broadcast program using a slot purchased from the Boat Racing Promotion Association. In response to TOYOTA’s many commercials to stop the “young people’s shift away from cars,” we often solicit plans and programs that use TOYOTA cars from the planning stage.

Program production with sponsors in mind is also taking place on terrestrial TV. A source at the aforementioned advertising agency pointed out that “Wednesday’s Downtown” (TBS), which is popular for its aggressive planning, has a number of sponsor-oriented projects on the air.

The “Smokers Against Smokers: Losing Tobacco Endurance Showdown” broadcast in January was praised by some as “an enlightening piece that conveys the horror of nicotine dependence,” but the key point is that the program is sponsored by JT (Japan Tobacco Inc.). It is said that the reason why scenes of the actors smoking cigarettes are often seen in “Mizudau,” such as the smoking scene of Giant Hakuta (44) in the “Gluttony” project, is to build up JT, which is a major sponsor of the show.

With the establishment of YouTube and the delivery of missed episodes, TV stations are losing advertising to the Internet. Since a decrease in advertising costs directly leads to a reduction in production costs, a director of a production company explains, “TV stations are trying to keep sponsors at bay as much as possible.

In information programs, they casually introduce the products of sponsors or companies that receive tie-up fees, etc. On social networking sites and the Internet, if there is no PR notation, it is considered “stealth marketing,” but on TV, it can be credited as “program cooperation” in the end roll at the end of the program, which brings it into the gray area. However, with television, you can bring it into the gray zone by crediting it as “program cooperation” in the end roll at the end of the program.

In TV dramas, it has become a standard practice for the actors to use the products of the sponsors, but there have been cases of failure due to excessive favoritism toward the sponsors.

In “#Family Wanted” broadcast on TBS in 2009, an air purifier from the sponsor “Airdog” was shown in a close-up so often that viewers wondered if it was a foreshadowing of something to come. This was picked up by the Internet news, and since then, it has been a topic of conversation among viewers (laugh). This incident was picked up by the Internet news, and since then, dramas that blatantly use the sponsor’s products have decreased. However, that is the extent to which commercial broadcasters are making programs while keeping an eye on their sponsors.

It is not surprising, then, that in the past few years there has been a string of excellent TV workers leaving the industry and going independent.

From the June 9, 2023 issue of FRIDAY