Which Show Hooks Viewers the Most? M-1 and King of Conte Ranked!

An irresistibly engaging brilliantly clueless style of comedy talk

Teruke: “The Sagrada Família has been under construction for 140 years and it’s still not finished.”

Ace: “Why do we have to go all the way to Spain just to look at a construction site? They’re probably short on workers and trying to make us help. The only time it’s fun to see something halfway done is when you’re grilling rice cakes!”

This is part of the routine performed by the comedy duo Batteries in the final round of M-1 Grand Prix 2024 (TV Asahi). Teruke, the “boke” (funny man), introduces World Heritage Sites like the Sagrada Família, while the ignorant Ace plays the “tsukkomi” (straight man), snapping back at him. Their light, quick-fire exchange glued viewers to their screens. Saori Yasutake, PR and marketing representative at TV viewing data analysis company REVISIO (hereafter “R Company”), explains:

“Lately there’s been an increase in polished, neatly structured material crafted by highly educated comedians. The routines that Batteries perform stand apart from that kind of sophistication. Their exquisitely crafted ignorant talk keeps viewers’ eyes from leaving the screen.”

In the major comedy award races, the finals of King of Conte (TBS) were held on October 11. R Company also conducted independent research on how glued to the TV screen viewers were during M-1, THE SECOND (Fuji TV), R-1 Grand Prix(also Fuji TV), and THE W (Nippon TV). They compiled results by age group (see below for the measurement method).

“The MF3 group—men and women aged 50 and over who are very familiar with television—show high levels of ‘being glued to the screen’ for every competition. In particular, for M-1 and King of Conte, it’s not viewers but professional judges who decide the winner, so people also pay close attention to how the judges evaluate and what they say. On the other hand, for the solo-performer contest R-1 Grand Prix, scores are lower mainly among the MF1 group (ages 20–34). The fact that relatively few winners go on to truly break through seems to be affecting how much attention the contest gets,” says Yasutake.

To be continued in the second part: “What in-depth analysis revealed! Are visual effects also a factor in boosting attention? Full reveal of the ‘Most Riveting Comedian’ ranking!!”

 

Measurement Method for Comedy Award Races & Comedians

R Company independently researched how much people sitting in front of their TVs were actually looking at the screen — this is what they call the “Glued-to-the-Screen Index” (attention level / engagement level). The attention level is measured based on the number of seconds viewers kept their eyes on the screen, while the engagement level is measured based on the number of people who looked at it. When people watch TV while doing other tasks — such as cooking — they often aren’t actually looking at the screen, so the glued-to-the-screen index does not increase. With the cooperation of about 2,000 households (around 4,800 people) in the Kanto region and about 600 households (around 1,500 people) in the Kansai region, R Company independently examined which comedy award competitions and comedians viewers were most fixated on. For the award competitions, the results were analyzed by age group.
For comedians, the analysis focused on finalists from the 2022–2024 editions of the two contests with the highest viewer engagement: M-1 and King of Conte. The term household TV-on rate refers to television ratings.

—from “FRIDAY”, October 24–31, 2025 combined issue.