Television is an important part of the media and entertainment industry in Japan. The medium became firmly entrenched in the lives of Japanese consumers in the 1960s and 1970s, when the country’s high economic growth brought about an unprecedented affluence that enabled more and more households to purchase TV sets. Today, the country is home to seven national television networks, of which five are centered on commercial key stations. Next to the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK), which serves as Japan’s public broadcaster and operates NHK General TV and NHK Educational TV, there are Fuji TV, Nippon TV, TV Asahi, TBS Television, and TV Tokyo. The
amount to several trillion Japanese yen annually, of which terrestrial broadcasting makes up the largest part.
Development of the television industry
Regular terrestrial television broadcasting in Japan started in 1953, and from the outset the market was shaped by both public and commercial broadcasting. While cable TV followed in 1955 and satellite broadcasting in 1987, terrestrial broadcasting continued to be the main transmission type. Digital broadcasting of terrestrial television was introduced in 2003 and completely succeeded analog broadcasting in 2012. Since the Broadcast Law stipulates that those households and businesses which possess devices capable of receiving broadcasting signals are obliged to pay a reception fee to NHK, the
number of NHK broadcasting subscribers can serve as an indicator for the potential reach of broadcasting media. Owing to its widespread adoption and frequent use, television had been the most important medium for the
advertising industry for many decades. In 2019, however, TV advertising expenditures were overtaken by internet advertising expenditures for the first time.
Television consumption
Although the average time people spend on watching real-time television has decreased in recent years and the medium faces strong competition in the form of video-on-demand (VOD) services, it continues to be the
most popular type of video consumption among Japanese consumers. One possible explanation for this can be found in Japan’s demographic makeup: The country has one of the oldest populations in the world, and people belonging to older age groups are
much less likely to spend a lot of time online, but
on average spend a lot more time on watching television than younger generations. One further reason can be found in the relatively positive image television enjoys as a source of news-related information: A majority of people across almost all age groups thinks that
television offers trustworthy information, which is much higher than the
respective figures for the internet.
This text provides general information. Statista assumes no
liability for the information given being complete or correct.
Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date
data than referenced in the text.
