December 2011

Further Widening Generation Gaps on TV Viewing

Analyzing 2000 to 2011 Nationwide Surveys on Individual Audience Ratings

Chie Sekine

The Public Opinion Research department of the NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute has been conducting biannual Nationwide Surveys on Individual Audience Ratings in June and November to study the reality of TV viewing in Japan. In this article, the author summarizes the TV-viewing behavior over the last ten-odd years based on the data from 2000 to 2011 surveys.

The findings from the Nationwide Surveys on Individual Audience Ratings showed the following trends in the last ten-odd years.
-As shown in the precedent surveys, television continues to be a medium that most of the respondents own and contact with. However, there is an increase in those who do not watch television at all among respondents in their 20s and 30s.
-Viewers of commercial satellite broadcasts is gradually increasing; in 2011, one out of four people in Japan view commercial satellite broadcasts at least once a week; especially the upper age bracket marked a sharp rise.
-Average TV viewing time is a little less than 4 hours, which is stable in general, but while there is an increase in the viewing time among older people, the viewing time among young people is decreasing.
-Viewing time of commercial broadcasts showed two opposite tendency between older people and younger people, with people in their 40s serving as the watershed. This is observed both among men and women. While it is increasing among older people, it is decreasing among younger people, showing a rise in the share of older viewers. Among them, the shift from NHK to commercial broadcasters is also observed, with the record-high viewing time of commercial broadcasters by older respondents.
-As to when they watch television, TV viewing is becoming more sporadic; the peak hours in the day time and evening time in have lower ratings than before, while early morning, afternoon, and midnight slots have higher ratings than before. Besides, the ratings of most-viewed programs among people under 20 are lowering. These results show that their TV-viewing behavior is changing.
-The most-watched program-list does not include “baseball live broadcasts,” which were always ranked high in the past surveys, being replaced by “entertainment” and “soccer live broadcasts.”

To conclude the report, the author examined the change in the media environment over the decade and the impact of digitalization of broadcasting and the Internet on TV viewing behavior, also using the data acquired from other surveys, and touches on the future direction.

The NHK Monthly Report on Broadcast Research