TBS Announcers Dominate the Popularity Ranking as Female Announcers Sell Talent Sharply Declines…

A strange phenomenon in the “Favorite Female Announcer Ranking

Oricon has announced its latest ranking of its favorite female announcers, and something unusual has happened. TBS announcers dominated the top spots for both men and women, with Masatoshi Namba (37) and Ayumi Akaogi (44) finishing one-two in the men’s ranking, and Mako Tamura (29) and Ai Eto (40) finishing one-two in the women’s ranking.

All but Eto are currently appearing on the morning variety show “Lavit! a morning information variety show. Her hard-working attitude and unique character on the show have been well received and her popularity has increased. In the past, Fuji Television actively marketed female announcers through the “XXPAN” series and other programs, but due in part to the growing awareness of harassment and the impact of work style reforms, the number of announcers being marketed as talents has drastically decreased. The only popular programs that allowed individual announcers to express their characters were “Lavit! It has become difficult to produce popular announcers outside of TBS,” said a director of a production company.

The “female announcer calendars” that were sold by Fuji, TV Asahi, and TV Tokyo until last year have also disappeared from the merchandise counters.

TBS stopped selling announcer calendars after the ’22 edition. I see a series of Fuji TV problems as the background for other stations following this move. Until the Heisei Era, female announcers were often used as assistants to the big-name MCs, but the Fuji TV issue has raised suspicions of “sexual entertainment” by female announcers. However, due to Fuji Television’s problems, the female announcers were suspected of “sexual entertainment.” Female viewers turned a blind eye, and sponsors began to leave one after another. Seeing Fuji’s business slumped at once, the awareness of TV workers changed. All stations have become more cautious in their treatment of female TV announcers,” said a producer at a key station.

A mid-level broadcaster revealed that “precautions have increased” when using female announcers in variety shows.

The term ‘female announcer’ is not allowed. Of course, it is not included in the scripts, and even veteran talent are reminded not to use the term ‘joshi’-announcer. An announcer is a company employee, not a celebrity. We do not use them for projects that they are not interested in. I have asked them more and more to keep the show on track.

Although the workload has been reduced, this has had the adverse effect of making it difficult to create popular announcers who are supported by a wide range of generations because it has become difficult to see the individual characters of each announcer.

In this respect, TBS has the advantage of having a variety of programs, including “Sunday Japon” as well as “Lovit! and “Sunday Japon,” TBS has live programs that make it easy to see the individuality and personality of the announcers. The characters of male announcers also come into their own on the sports entertainment program “SASUKE. The fact that talented announcers such as Shinichiro Azumi (52), whom Nobu (46) of Chidori said he uses as a reference when MCing, have remained within the company and risen through the ranks must be a motivating factor for TBS announcers.

The fact that talented TBS announcers such as the gentleman, Yasumi Guro (52), have remained in the company and risen through the ranks must be motivating them to keep working.

Anne Nango, who also appears on “Lovite! is also a TBS announcer. She is very well known among the younger generation, as her cute pictures from her school days became a sensation. If she can improve her live broadcasting skills, she may be able to follow in the footsteps of Tamura and become a signature announcer.

In Reiwa, where it is difficult to sell talent, TBS announcers are entering a golden age.

From the January 30/February 6, 2026 issue of “FRIDAY