Since I don’t see anyone writing about this anywhere else, I’m just going to jot down a few notes from this article in Japanese at r25.jp about Japan’s TV industry, which is apparently facing massive losses. The article explains that they interviewed Sadaaki Isawaki [岩崎貞明], editor of the specialized media journal “Broadcast Report” [放送レポート], about these losses, who reportedly said the following:

「テレビ局の最大の収入源であるＣＭ収入の減少ですね。最近ではスポンサーが、広告費をネットなどに、より多く投下する傾向があるからなんです。ネットはクリックした人数、いわゆる接触率を正確に計測できますし、直接商品も販売できるため、広告の効果が高いとされているんですよ」

“This is a loss in revenue from commercials, which is the greatest source of income for televisions stations. This is because recently, there has been trend toward sponsors investing more in advertising on the net. On the net, it is possible to accurately measure the so-called rate of contact, the number of people who clicked, and because you can sell products directly, the effects of advertising are regarded as high.

The article also mentions that recently, TV ads often have a note mentioning to viewers that if they would like to see more, they should check out the company’s website. Then they quote again from Isawaki about whether the TV stations will go bankrupt:

「つぶれてしまいそうなほど、深刻な経営危機にあるテレビ局は、地方局を含め、今のところないです。過去につぶれたテレビ局も、日本では１つもありません」

“At the present time, there are no television stations, including local broadcasting stations, that are in serious danger to the point of going bankrupt. There has never in the past been a single television station that has gone bankrupt in Japan.”

I’m not sure what to make of this news, not even sure how accurate it is, but based on the figures listed in the article things look pretty bad: Fuji television faces a 19.6% loss in profits compared with the period of April-June of this year, TBS a 48.2% drop over the same period, Asahi television a 10.1% drop, Nihon TV a 61.8% drop, and Tokyo Television a whopping 70% (!!) drop. Something’s brewing, alright…