Television Ratings

Now don't let the declining ratings for the Giants games fool you into thinking that baseball popularity overall is declining, because games for other teams, like those of the Hanshin Tigers, are still popular, and attract over 45,000+ fans for home games.

One reason that I've heard being discussed for the decline in television ratings can be attributed to the Giants' performance recently. They are last in the Central League standings. Last year the Giants were really up and down all year long, finishing third, and the ratings were declining last year as well.

If I were to speculate on reasons for declining ratings other than the Giants losing, I'd look into the regionalization of Japansese baseball over the past couple of years. First you have to understand that all of the Giants games are broadcast nationally here in Japan. Until a few years ago, there were only a few teams in cities other than the major metropolitan areas of Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya, the three major TV markets. Plus, there were no teams North of the Tokyo area, either. Last year the Nippon Ham Fighters moved up to Sapporo, Hokkaido (Northern most island), and this year the Rakuten Golden Eagles were born in the city of Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture (Tohoku Region well North of Tokyo).

With a couple of teams moving into different areas, the baseball fans living in areas that could only watch baseball games on television, can now root for and watch their local team, instead of the Giants. Just this past weekend, the Giants played the Rakuten Eagles in Sendai, and I saw on TV people at the stadium with Giants' cheering accessories rooting for the Eagles. That and the fact that the local TV stations also broadcast the local baseball game, in my opinion, would be a factor into the declinging ratings.

If you are looking for some resources on the ratings, I found this article from Oct. 2004 on the Mainichi Shimbun (in English), and this article from Apr. 2005 on the Asahi Shimbun (in English).

In my opinion, with the introduction of inter-league play for the first time this year in Japanese baseball, the ratings might go back up a little overall in the next month, but only because the Pacific League fans will be able to see their teams on national television, and because the Giants fans might be interested in the new competitions. But after inter-league play is over, I'd look for the ratings to drop again if the Giants are still losing.

There is one other possibility that I can't confirm, I've only heard it from a Giants fan, but he told me that with the Giants home run explosion over the past 2 years, the games have gotten boring to watch, because when the Giants weren't losing, it was a blow-out, which is kind of boring to watch.

I wish you had come to us before you talked to Fuji. It would have been great for somebody to ask them why they cut away from games in the 8th inning or early 9th. There is also a problem with the networks not being flexible in their TV coverage.

Bobby Valentine's team, the Chiba Lotte Marines, are the hottest team in NPB right now, but unless you can get a local UHF Chiba station or have sattelite, you won't see them. Seibu is the same way. I live in Saitama but I can't see games for the local team.

- I wish you had come to us before you talked to Fuji. It would have been great for somebody to ask them why they cut away from games in the 8th inning or early 9th.

Could someone tell me why they do this? I'd get up to fetch another beer for the 9th only to return to the TV and find the game no longer on.

I don't know how TV ratings are done, but I suspect it's similar to the Nealson Ratings.

I've complained a number of times that I don't think that the rating system takes into account cable/satellite TV. While I've pretty much completely stopped watching Giants' games, I watch a great deal more baseball now than ever before thanks to J-Sports, Sky A, and a couple of UHF channels I wouldn't otherwise be able to get without cable.

Please see some of these Google results for more information.

- I don't know how TV ratings are done, but I suspect it's similar to the Nealson Ratings.

I'm not sure if this is the only company, but from the Japanese articles that I've been reading, the name Video Research Ltd. pops up quite a few times. [Homepage (English version)]

Nikkan Sports just released an article stating that the ratings for the Giants-Lions game on Sunday the 15th, broadcast on TV Asahi, were at a 9.9% rating for the Kanto area, and just a 5.6% rating for the Kansai area. Of the 9 Giants inter-league games so far, last night's game was the first one to fall below a 10% rating.