62nd Kouhaku Uta Gassen tops 2011 TV ratings
Posted on January 1, 2012 by tokyograph
The overall viewership ratings for NHK’s 62nd Kouhaku Uta Gassen have been announced. In the Kanto region, the first half of the program averaged 35.2%, and the second half averaged 41.6%. In the Kansai region, the ratings were 34.1% and 41.9%, respectively.
By region, Kouhaku had the highest ratings in Niigata (44.2% and 48.9%) and Fukushima (45.7% and 47.5%).
- Kanto - 35.2% - 41.6%
- Kansai - 34.1% - 41.9%
- Nagoya - 41.5% - 46.6%
- Hokubu-Kyushu - 34.7% - 41.1%
- Sapporo - 37.3% - 41.9%
- Sendai - 39.4% - 47.0%
- Hiroshima - 36.3% - 39.0%
- Shizuoka - 42.9% - 45.6%
- Fukushima - 45.7% - 47.5%
- Niigata - 44.2% - 48.9%
- Okayama/Kagawa - 32.1% - 38.6%
The 41.6% rating in the Kanto region surpassed the final episode of the hit drama series “Kaseifu no Mita,” which set the ratings record for 2011 at 40.0% on December 21. This makes Kouhaku the highest rated show for the year.
In recent years, the highest rated show of the year has generally been either Kouhaku or a World Cup soccer match. Kouhaku used to dominate the ratings in the past, but it has gradually declined from 81.4% in 1963 to below 60% in 1986 to around 40% since 2004. The second half of Kouhaku has failed to reach 40% only three times, in 2004, 2006, and 2007.
The 62nd Kouhaku Uta Gassen aired from 7:15pm-8:55pm (first half) and 9:00pm-11:45pm (second half) on December 31. For the 6th year in a row, Kouhaku competed with NTV’s “Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende!!” special, which got ratings of 18.7% and 16.6% for its two halves. Fuji TV’s “Bakusho Sokkuri Monomane Kouhaku Uta Gassen Special” got ratings of 10.5%, 5.7%, and 4.6% for its three portions.
This Kouhaku Uta Gassen finally saw the Red Team win after 6 consecutive losses. A total of 1,040,638 votes were tallied, including the intermediate votes counted halfway through the event. In the final judging, the Red Team received 343,045 votes, while the White Team received 323,767 votes.
Judges voted either by mobile phone, 1seg, digital TV sets, or as part of the actual audience at the event. Although the White Team received more of mobile phone, 1seg, and audience votes, the digital TV viewers favored the Red Team by almost 40,000 votes.
Sources:
Mantan Web
Video Research, Ltd.
NHK