The ratings for the “75th NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen” are in, and they’re a bit better than they were last year, when the ratings were the worst they’ve ever been.
In the Kanto region, the second half of the show had a rating of 32.7%, up from last year’s 31.9%. For the first half, the show’s Kanto region rating was 29.0%, the same as last year’s. This is the second time the rating has fallen below 30%.
In the Kansai region, the second half of the show had a rating of 33.1%, up from last year’s 32.7%. For the first half, the show’s Kansai region rating was 27.6%, up from last year’s 27.5%.
In the Nagoya region, the second half of the show had a rating of 30.1%, up from last year’s 27.7%. For the first half, the show’s Nagoya region rating was 34.4%, up from last year’s 30.3%.
The highest rated moment in the Kanto region came at 11:44 PM JST when it was announced that the White Team had won. At this moment, the show’s rating was 35.9%.
The highest rated moment in the Nagoya region came at 10:33 PM JST when Takeshita Keiko, Takeda Tetsuya, Tanaka Ken, and Matsuzaki Shigeru performed “Moshimo Piano ga Hiketa nara” in tribute to Nishida Toshiyuki. At this moment, the show’s rating was 37.8%.
According to a NHK insider, the slight increase in ratings is just as intended, as the “NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen” makes a shift from being a youth-oriented show to one that targets middle age and elderly viewers. Veteran act B’z helped improve ratings, and septuagenarian acts Minami Kosetsu, Iruka, and Takahashi Mariko all had strong ratings.
