Nippon TV’s Chaotic Strategy Shift Before 24-Hour TV Event

In mid-July, the staff of each program gathered in a meeting room at NTV, where the chief producers explained the “new policy. The chief producers explained the “new policy” to the staff of each program in the meeting room in mid-July.

It seems that we have been told to change our programming to emphasize individual ratings,” said a director of a production company.

A director of a production company said as much. Incidentally, “individual viewer ratings” are the percentage of family members aged 4 and older in a household who watch TV and how much they watch TV, while “core viewer ratings” represent viewer ratings among men and women aged 13 to 49.

NTV is known for being the first station to create an indicator called “core viewership ratings,” which focuses on its core target audience (men and women aged 13-49), and for creating programs by analyzing individual viewership ratings and core viewership ratings in a well-balanced manner. However, for the past several months, we have been strictly focusing on increasing core viewership ratings rather than individual viewership ratings.

The ratings for all programs this year have been so poor that they decided to make a major shift to focus on the core target audience. The staff had been working hard to achieve this, but within a short period of time, they were given an unusual directive to change their programming to focus more on individual ratings. Both employees and contractors are confused.

However, the goal of “getting core numbers” for all programs from early morning to late at night was impossible to achieve in the first place. This is because the age and orientation of viewers differ between the early morning, daytime, and nighttime GP slots. ZIP!” in the morning and “Hirunandes” in the afternoon, but “Ariyoshi’s Wall” featuring all popular comedians and “The! DASH! which are strong with the M (male) demographic, may be too nonsensical to cater to the tastes of the core demographic.

DASH!” “At the meeting with all men, including the broadcasters, it was very unpopular, saying, ‘The plan is too blurry. When people start saying things like ‘from a woman’s point of view’ or ‘for housewives,’ variety shows can no longer go on a rampage. The programs I am in charge of have seen their numbers drop since they started aiming at their “core target. Right now, Nippon TV’s rival in terms of ratings is TV Asahi, but TV Asahi’s ratings are stable from program to program, with an emphasis on individual ratings that does not neglect the third tier of viewers over 50 years old or the fourth tier of viewers over 65.

Seeing this, I think Nippon TV’s upper management and programming changed their guidelines in a panic. Variety teams like ours are relieved that the emphasis has returned to individual viewer ratings. In fact, that individual viewer rating target was also lowered to a realistic number at this point in time” (variety program director).

Speaking of NTV, a former senior employee of affiliate Nihonkai Television made headlines for embezzling donations and other funds from “24-Hour TV,” and announcer Mami Mizuto has just recently apologized on behalf of the company once again.

The program was broadcast again this year from August 31 to September 1, and it was explained on the official website that “only by continuing the program can we regain trust” in regards to the troubled charity. The program title was also changed from “Love Saves the Earth” to “Will Love Save the Earth?” and the main personalities, who for many years had been from the former Johnny’s office, were eliminated.

Shinya Ueda joined the show as the general host, and Yasuko-san was chosen as the marathon runner, but Nippon TV continues to receive complaints such as “I feel sorry for Ueda-san and Yasuko-san” and “The show itself should be over already.

What further exacerbated the situation was the huge success of Fuji Television’s “FNS 27-Hour TV: Japan’s Most Enjoyable School Festival! The program, which aired from July 20 to 21 and featured members of “New Key,” SHIMOFURI MYOJO, Chocolate Planet, and Hanako, received an average household rating of 9.7%, individual rating of 6.9%, and core rating of 7.4%, outperforming other stations that aired popular variety shows and TV dramas. It was also Fuji Television’s highest viewership rating of the year.

In addition to the ratings, the fact that many of the STARTO talent that Nippon TV has been eliminating appeared on the program has led some to ask, “Do they have the numbers after all? However, since “24-Hour TV” has already been planned without STARTO’s talent, the executives are panicking even after all this time,” said a broadcaster.

NTV has finally caught fire due to the rewind of Fuji Television and the anxiety over “24-Hour TV,” but there is no sense that a breakthrough is in sight. Will Love Save the Earth? can really save Nippon TV? ……