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Ratings data
By Zach Arnold | January 1, 2007
Video Research Ltd. Co. Japan announced the ratings for the Red & White Music Festival (Kohaku) program in Japan. The first part drew a 30.6% rating in the Kanto area (28.5% in the Kansai area), and the second part drew a 39.8% rating in the Kanto area (37.6% in the Kansai area). The numbers are considered poor (declines of 4.8% and 3.1% per stage, respectively), as they are the second-lowest ratings ever drawn by the program.
Meanwhile, the K-1 Dynamite!! show (Tokyo Broadcasting System – Osaka Dome) drew a 16.3% rating (6:00-8:30 PM) and a 19.9% rating (8:30-11:05 PM), along with a 10.1% rating (11:05-11:35 PM). The 19.9% rating (for the second stage) was the second best rating ever for K-1 on NYE, as they did a 20.1% rating for the second stage in 2004. The high peak rating for a show segment on this year’s telecast was a 20.1%. The K-1 ratings numbers are considered a big success.
Topics: All Topics, HERO's, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 13 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
So ratings for K-1 were….?
And in other just-as-MMA-related news, I watched Jools Holland on BBC2. 😛
K-1 ratings will be added when released. Kohaku is the big boy program, so that news comes out first.
Well obviously (my father was watching it on tape delay here) but what MMA tshirts and I were kinda confused on is how this is important without the K-1 ratings….
Josh – the whole point of K-1’s importance of running on NYE is that they are on free TV (Tokyo Broadcasting System), and hence Kohaku is the big boy on the block in terms of NYE ratings. So, naturally, the media always compares the ratings of MMA to what Kohaku does. Kohaku under 40%, K-1 nearly 20% for the 2nd stage… good news for them.
Yes Zach I realize that…Im wondering why u couldnt wait to post the K-1 ratings WITH the Kohaku ratings. Hence forth MMA shirts comment on non related MMA posts (when the post was JUST ABOUT kohaku…..jeez cant believe I had to explain that.
Anyway glad K-1 did well, hopefully they can try to expand the Heros brand to be a legitimate contender to PRIDE.
You’d have to think K-1 clearly benefited from not having to run “head-to-head” (competing) with a PRIDE card. I would suspect all the mma fans would watch K-1 since there was no real alternative on free tv.
Definitly, though K-1 did a great strategy with having some casual fan orientated matches (Kaneko, the Ologun bros, Tokoro, MUSASHI and Masato) which all got some good ratings.
True. From a purist/elite standpoint you like to look down your nose at some of the “celeb” or “freakshow” matches, but in reality they always draw in the casual fans and pull big ratings.
I guess if you think about it who wouldn’t want to see a Hollywood “tough guy” or movie star in the ring…I know it does nothing for the credibility of the sport but the “IT” factor is always gonna be there.
Yeah I would say it hit big because it didn’t have competition from Pride to split the ratings. Now the question is: Will HERO’s continue to snatch up Pride fighters? Sakakibara has already said publically they can’t compete with the UFC financially, but can they against K1?
hmm, these numbers are not too much better than pride ratings in 2005. however, one year ago zach said those numbers are below expectation. now that k-1 has these numbers zach calls it success. also, k-1 should be much better now that they have no competition from pride.
kouhaku number is very close to 2004, when k-1 beat pride. that means k-1 has made no progress in 2 years, even without competition. real winner is other stations showing comedians, fortune tellers and boy bands, etc.
Remeber those 2004-ish numbers were when MMA was at what appears to have been the absolute peak of popularity in Japan. It seems to be on a bit of a decline with respect to the casual interest it was garnering a few years ago…MMA is experiencing that sort of apex in North America right now (a few years behind the trend in Japan).
Given the completely miserable card line-up Tanigawa produced, those ratings are a positive for that company. Is it encouraging for fight fans who want legitimate fight quality? Of course not. I wouldn’t expect anything more or less from Tanigawa. Without Ishii in the picture, we’ll see how things go.