Takumi Saito’s MC program has been promoted to a regular late-night slot on Nippon TV! Will a Local TV Show Save Reiwa TV?

Chukyo TV’s documentary variety program “Kodomo Diretor: Watashi de Motto de Mita de Kami no Hanashi” (Children’s Director: Family Stories Only I Can Film),” in which actor Takumi Saito (42) serves as MC, will be aired regularly on NTV’s late-night slot “Wednesday Platinum Night” from this spring.

After three special broadcasts, it has been promoted to a regular program. It is also a hot topic because it is produced by the staff of the station’s popular program “Human Commentary Omo Umai Ten” (Nippon TV)” (TV magazine editor).

With the TVer service, which allows viewers to stream programs they have missed, local programs such as “Kodomo Director” are now in the spotlight.

Kamaitachi no shitei” (TSK Sanin Chuo Television), a program produced by “Kamaitachi” that ranked first among programs produced by local stations outside of Tokyo and Osaka in terms of total views in 2009, is now broadcast on eight stations, including Kantele (Kansai Television Network) and Tokai Television. It has become a popular program that transcends the boundaries of local stations.

The production capacity of key stations has been declining due to production cost reductions and other factors, and there is a growing trend to promote programs produced by local stations that could be broadcast nationwide to fill the gap,” said a producer at a key station.

Following in the footsteps of “Omoumaiiten,” a special program produced by Chukyo TV that has become a popular Nippon TV program, local programs are increasingly being aired on the national network.

Kantele’s weekday lunchtime program “Shunkan Live Toritate! is aired on the national network several times on weekday holidays. It is widely rumored that the program will be switched to regular nationwide broadcast around this fall.　It is a common rumor that the program will be switched to regular national broadcasting this fall.

Aoba-ku, Sendai-shi Aoba-ku Kano-oga Handy Ken,” in which Takahiro Ogata (46) of Panther and Eiko Kano (42) appear regularly on Sendai Broadcasting in their hometown of Miyagi, is also scheduled to be broadcast as a special program on June 2 on a national network. In the case of variety programs, there are many cases where local stations air programs in the weekend evening slot to see how they respond,” said a director of a production company.

A broadcaster points out the advantage of having local stations produce programs: “They have research capabilities that Tokyo staff cannot match.

The reason for the success of “Omoumaiiten” was the introduction of deep restaurants that could only be discovered by local staff. Now that the number of researchers and other staff members has been reduced due to cost cutting, national TV programs use only “cheap” regular restaurants that are cooperative in their coverage, and there is nothing fresh about them. Local stations usually spend less than half the production costs of key stations, so they have the know-how to create interesting programs on a small budget.

Local stations also benefit from being broadcast on a national network.

When a program is broadcast nationwide, its brand power is enhanced, and even local stations can increase their sponsorship. The success of “Omoumaiiten” has led to each station looking for projects that are similar to the second best, but it has also given hope to local stations that they can create a hit program if they have the right idea. This is motivating the highly motivated staff in the local areas.

Can the efforts of the local areas help to stem the decline in TV among young people?

From the April 26, 2024 issue of FRIDAY