<figure id="attachment_216684" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 5500px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-216684"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="acde5592"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2021/11/jpp037335049.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-216684" class="wp-caption-text">Will NHK be able to attract the young?</figcaption></figure>
The NHK Kouhaku Uta Gassen, which will be broadcast on on New Year&#8217;s Eve, has recently announced its contestants. 
The first entrants are AwesomeCityClub, Mone Kamishiraishi, BiSH, millenniumparade×Belle (Kaho Nakamura), KAT-TUN, Sno wMan, DISH//, Dai Hirai, Torayasu Nunobukuro, and Mafumafu . Some of the names may be new to you. 
Some of them are first-time entrants, while others were not selected. Hiroshi Itsuki, a regular performer for 50 consecutive appearances, will not be participating. An entertainment reporter from a sports newspaper explains. 
 It was originally said that last year would be the last time for Mr. Itsuki. This is the first time that I&#8217;ve seen him in the show. NHK explained that this was their intention, but Mr. Itsuki was not happy. That&#8217;s why Mr. Itsuki didn&#8217;t even agree to be interviewed last year, and it ended halfway. Although he is a distinguished performer, he was not able to make a spectacular &#8220;last&#8221; performance like Saburo Kitajima did. I&#8217;m sorry to hear that. This year, too, a certain big-name singer in the red group was in doubt, but it is said that he was able to participate because of the incident with Mr. Itsuki. &#8220;
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It seems to me that NHK&#8217;s recent intention is to cut out enka and song singers and bring out J-Pop artists. Last year it was YOASOBI, the year before last it was Official Bearded Otoko dism and KingGnu, in &#8216; 18 it was Yonezu Genji, in &#8216; 16 it was Radwimps, and in &#8217;17 it was the first time that a J-pop artist was featured. The year before last, Official Bearded Otoko ddism, King Gnu, in 2006, Genji Yonetsu, and in 2004, Radwimps. However, with the exception of Y OASOBI, none of them will be participating this year. A NHK official said. 
 This year, however, none of the artists except Y OASOBI will participate. Why is this singer not allowed to participate? There is a lot of pressure from various quarters to find out why this singer is not allowed to participate. That&#8217;s why the programmers are always trying to get the most popular artists to participate. For that reason, the artists the artist&#8217;s side. In order to do so, they have to accept the artists&#8217; conditions. Even if they do, it won&#8217;t last beyond the next year.This is why the programmers are so eager to get popular artists to participate. I&#8217;ve heard that Yonezu was turned down as a one-off and Higedan was also turned down. I&#8217;ve heard that back number also made a love call but was turned down.
Another NHK official further explained. 
 Another NHK official further explained, &#8220;Kohaku always asks for entries through record companies, but it is easier to negotiate with singers who have a regular relationship with through &#8216;song concerts&#8217;. However, negotiating with an artist you don&#8217;t usually work with is still a high hurdle . Some time ago, in order to get a famous singer to participate in a show, NHK tried to find a restaurant that was supposedly run by the singer&#8217;s relatives with a little information and tried to negotiate with them.
 In other words, NHK has a thinner pipeline with J-Pop artists than commercial broadcasters. In the days when Kohaku was boasting huge viewership ratings, it was attractive as a promotion , so there was still room for negotiation. &#8230;&#8230; In other words.
In other words, it seems that it is difficult to negotiate on a shoestring. The gap between the singers who want to participate and the singers who want to be allowed to participate. This is what Kohaku is these days. 
So why does Kohaku cater to the younger generation? The reason is that NHK as well as other broadcasters are concerned that young people are leaving television. 
For this reason, commercial broadcasters are abandoning household viewership ratings and shifting their focus to individual viewership ratings. They are also abandoning the 5 0 and older age group and targeting the 49 and younger age group which is in high demand by sponsors. This is the core viewership rating. This is the core viewership rating. Each station has a slightly different upper and lower age limit. Here are the figures for the first half of this year for the 4 to 49 age group. 
In the prime band, NTV is in first place with 5.2%, Fuji TV in second with 4.0%, TBS in third with 3.3%. TBS 3.3%, TV Asahi 2.9%, NHK 2.9%. TBS 3.3%, 4th TV Asahi 2.9%, 5th NHK 2.1%, 6th TV Tokyo 1.6%. This is quite different from the ranking of household viewership ratings. NHK&#8217;s numbers are also conspicuously low. 
A source at a company affiliated with NHK speaks self-deprecatingly. 
 It&#8217;s a good thing we&#8217;re not the only one. When we turn our attention to young people, they choose not to broadcast sumo. We can&#8217;t discontinue sumo because seniors are the ones who support the current subscription system, but if we think in terms of 10 or 20 years, we have to bring in the younger generation. That is our dilemma.
This year, NHK has decided to use the same host for both the red and white groups. I guess they accepted criticism from the perspective of gender equality for dividing the contestants into male and female singers. In that case, the concept of a singing &#8220;battle&#8221; between male and female teams may become a thing of the past.

 As a reporter for a sports newspaper, Taro Aoyama has covered a wide range of topics in the entertainment industry, including music, movies, and television. Currently writes as a freelance writer.

 Taro Aoyama

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