Japanese TV Ratings

[tim]

Reading the wikipedia article on Chigusa Nagayo, it notes that during the Crush Girls run they regularly drew ratings of 12.0+. Which, if compared to even the best of RAW ratings during the peak, is huge. Now, first of all, IS it as good as it sounds -- is a 12.0 in Japan as big as a 12.0 would be in the US? Heck, is it even TRUE (it's an un-sourced claim but I've seen it around often).

 

Did other companies get comparable ratings in Japan? Is there a good source of information re: Japanese TV ratings for wrestling?

 

(as an aside, any particularly good write ups/articles/whatever anyone has on the crush girls cultural phenomenon would be nice)

[Guest Staples]

I don't know what the # of viewers is, but the ratings point is the percentage of people with available TV viewing. Since Japan has a smaller population than the US, a 12.0 is not equivalent to a US 12.0.

 

EDITL That is to say, it is as good it sounds.

[rzombie1988]

Also, cable doesn't exist in Japan and most people don't have satellite, especially then in the 1980's. Most Japanese people I know have under 12 channels, in 2013.

[ohtani's jacket]

Japan has cable television, but the overall penetration of pay TV is small. All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling's numbers were high but it was quite common for popular shows to do those sort of numbers and even higher.

[anarchistxx]

Did other companies get comparable ratings in Japan?

Pretty sure the answer to this is no. The Crush Gals were a pop culture phenomenon. Hulk Hogan is I suppose the best US comparison, but it it still totally different their popular was amongst teenage girls who are certainly the most obsessive demographic in terms of fandoms. They are more akin to a major boyband or a huge female pop star.

[ohtani's jacket]

New Japan drew 20%+ ratings on Friday nights during the Tiger Mask craze.

[ohtani's jacket]

For what it's worth, I tend to think the Crush Girls cultural phenomenon is overstated. The Crush Girls were extremely popular in terms of female athletes but their popularity didn't compare to mainstream actresses, singers and idols of the day. In all honesty, they would probably rank below the more significant television prime time animes and popular mangas of the day which had wider audiences. They certainly weren't on the level of pop stars. Their success was good enough to get AJW a good time slot on Saturdays and they pushed a lot of merchandise and sold a lot of tickets but they weren't these huge crossover mainstream stars that they're sometimes portrayed as.

[anarchistxx]

New Japan drew 20%+ ratings on Friday nights during the Tiger Mask craze.

Never knew that - makes it even a bigger tragedy that Dynamite is now broke, disabled, on benefits and living in a tiny dilapidated house on a council estate. If we are indeed talking about Tiger Mask I.

 

First time I've heard somebody play down the Crush Girls phenomenon. It probably tends to get overstated it due to the raw emotions and noise of the crowds around the time, or maybe it's just one of those early internet things that has carried through.

[ohtani's jacket]

I think the Crush Girls were a phenomenal success in terms of wrestling but not pop culture. A lot of people like Meltzer and the folks who write online articles or information take facts about the Crush Girls and compare them what they know, i.e. American wrestling and the extend to which its stars have ever been mainstream, but when it comes to Japan they don't have a clue where wrestling fits into the rest of Japanese culture.

 

And people assume things are true. That Wikipedia article on Chigusa Nagayo states that either she or the Crush Girls had several top 10 hits. I've scoured as much Oricon charts details as I can find and there is no evidence to date that any of their songs were in the top 10. They certainly weren't in the 100 best selling singles of any year during the Crush Girls craze. I suppose they may have spent a week or two in the top 10, but I can't find any evidence that their singles ever rose that high. If you want to look at what a pop star could do at the same time as the Crush Girls, Seiko Matsuda, the Queen of the Idols, had something like 24 consecutive number one hits between 1980 and 1988.

 

And the ratings seem big by American standards, but something like Touch, for example, the wonderful baseball anime, consistently drew 30%+ ratings during its peak. The difference between something like Touch and Joshi Puroresu is that Touch had appeal for the whole family whereas the Crush Girls success was essentially a phenomenon among children not unlike the trends we grew up with (Transformers, Cabbage Patch Kids, TMNT, etc.) There is a morning television serial in Japan called Asadora where airs from 8:00-8:15 a.m. The most popular serial of all-time earnt on average a 52.6% rating with a 62/9% rating for its most popular episode, and remember that's at 8 o'clock in the morning and only for fifteen minutes.

 

Considering how big the idol industry is in Japan, I don't think the Crush Girls made a terribly huge number of VHS tapes, albums, etc. They also weren't on the celebrity TV circuit as much as you'd think and after she retired Chigusa couldn't land a TV gig. To me overstating the spread or reach of the Crush Girls would be a bit like a Japanese fan claiming that Hogan or Flair were as popular as the most iconic Americans of the 80s.

[mookeighana]

There's a WSJ article about the Crush Gals that is frequently cited which is the source for some claims like the 12 share rating.

 

I finally found a copy of it:

 

WSJ: Japan's Crush Gals Croon Sweet Songs Before Crushing Foes --- Women Pro Wrestlers Start Matches With Decorum, But It Doesn't Last Long

By Stephen Kreider Yoder. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition [New York, N.Y] 10 Sep 1986: 1.

TOKYO -- Fans surge forward as the two women wrestlers shove their way into Korakuen Stadium.

 

The women spring onto the mat and glare at the spectators as the crowd gives an ear-splitting cheer. Spotlights focus on the ring as other lights dim. The women grab microphones. A hush falls.

 

Then, the wrestlers begin . . . to sing. "Every girl has someone hidden in her heart," they croon, "someone she wants to tell, 'I love you.'" The two women, called the Crush Gals, are Japan's most popular female wrestling team.

 

So begins another Sunday afternoon of Japanese women's professional wrestling, of sweet-looking young contestants donning cocktail dresses and singing to their fans before pulling each other's hair.

 

In most countries, women's wrestling is a sleazy, third-rate sport in which Amazons pound each other to amuse leering, jeering mobs. But in Japan, as the television director for this match says, "This is the golden age of women's pro wrestling." A golden age, indeed, when a Sunday match draws a 12% TV-viewer rating, female champions are sought out by talk-show hosts and advertising executives, and 3,000 schoolgirls apply for the 10 or so wrestling openings each year.

 

This match, like most others here, is an excuse for a carnival. Fans shower the ring with paper streamers. Party crackers pop, balloons glide through the air, confetti rains down. Members of Crush Gals fan clubs, sporting pompons and satin uniforms, hang banners from balconies.

 

"The Japanese beauty, she's No. 1," the Crush Gals sing.

 

Besides singing, they do wrestle, in well-choreographed bouts of kicks, karate chops and chicken-wing arm locks. But that comes later. Just hearing them sing sends the fans into ecstasy. "They're just so good," says Tomoko Takahashi, a 17-year-old. "I'm crazy about them."

 

No bloodthirsty macho types are here. Crammed into the stadium is a chattering mob of adolescent girls wearing such apparel as powder-blue skirts and pink T-shirts with a comic-animal pattern. At an age when many Japanese girls dream of becoming pop singers, these teen-agers want to be wrestlers. "They're so strong," Miss Takahashi says with a sigh.

 

And attractive. "They're such nice girls," gushes 42-year-old Ginko Takasaki, here with her husband and 12-year-old daughter. "They're so pretty, so charming, just like a picture."

 

The Crush Gals deliver their finale, "The Japanese beauty, the shy beauty . . . ," and disappear to change into leotards and wrestling boots. Moments later, one of them, 22-year-old "Lioness" Asuka, makes a triumphant reentry with three petite colleagues. They look about as menacing as cheerleaders.

 

But then, a ruckus in an aisle sends a shriek through the stands. Plowing toward the ring, scattering fans, comes a barrel-shaped wrestler in studded-leather jacket and black leather police cap.

 

She is "Dump" Matsumoto, the 220-pound wrestler Japan loves to hate. She has a human skull painted on her cheek, uses bruise-purple makeup and dyes her hair orange. Carrying a big stick, Dump (for Dump Truck) swaggers to the ring, accompanied by three unsavory sidekicks: "Bull" (for Bulldozer) Nakano, whose head is half-shaved; "Condor" Saito, who sports chains and handcuffs, and Lei Lani Kai, an ill-humored Hawaiian who wields nunchak sticks (two martial-arts sticks linked by a chain).

 

The powers of good and evil battle it out here, and there is no question who is which. As the nasties, called the Super Bads, tear off their leather jackets and jump growling to the ring, the crowd chants: "Go home, go home."

 

The hostility doesn't seem to bother Dump -- but, in fact, it does. Despite her thuggish act, the real Kaoru Mutsumoto is a soft-spoken, baby-faced 24-year-old with a shy smile who disguises herself when in town because she says that if she doesn't, she frightens passers-by. "It's not easy being the bad guy," Dump laments.

 

Her cronies are no boors, either. In a steamy locker hall backstage, they shuffle by, smile demurely and apologize for disrupting a pre-match interview. A half-dozen wrestlers, good and evil, titter happily. An hour later, they will be bitter enemies, at least as far as the public can tell. "I have to make the fans afraid of me," Dump says. "And they really hate me."

 

And how. Fear-stricken girls sob into pink hankies and grasp their girlfriends' hands as the Super Bads thwack, trample and clobber their idols. The rules allow only one wrestler at a time from each team to fight until one is pinned. But teammates jump into the fray for quick swipes at their foes, and the match degenerates into a classic wrestling free-for-all.

 

Pandemonium erupts as Dump's snarling crew attacks the nice girls with chains and kerosene cans. "I just wish they wouldn't use weapons," a 15-year-old fan says. "I wish they'd just fight fair." Nonetheless, good triumphs over evil -- the bad girls lose.

 

To the more cynical spectator, the bout is mostly slapstick. A face bobs up streaked with blood that's much too red, and punches appear to stop short of their mark. The wrestlers stage miraculous recoveries from seemingly mortal wounds.

 

"Of course they're not faking it," says 17-year-old Yuko Minomura, incredulous at the very idea. "This is a serious fight."

 

Wrestling is very serious for thousands of 15- to 18-year-olds who apply each year for a spot with the All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling Promotion, which manages the wrestlers. Desperate pleas arrive from the rejected. "You'll go broke if you don't take me," writes one. "Please let me in," begs another. "This is my only fate in life."

 

Why such female mania over a blood-and-guts sport? The wrestlers are "doing something most girls can't do," 17-year-old Hiromi Tonobe says. "Even though they're girls, they're strong. . . . They're more than just girls." Adds thirteen-year-old Maki Ohta, "When the ones I like get beaten up, I hate it a whole bunch. But when I yell, 'Stop it,' then it's good for relieving my stress."

 

The wrestlers' lives aren't all spotlights and confetti. They live with three noes: no drinking, no smoking and no men. "Those things are a curse to wrestlers," says Takashi Matsunaga, the 50-year-old president of the wrestling promotion. "It ruins their wrestling every time."

 

Like any Japanese boss, Mr. Matsunaga demands loyalty and sacrifice. He and nine other judges choose girls for their muscle, stamina and fighting spirit. Recruits face a grueling dawn-to-dusk training regimen of weight lifting, judo and karate. They live in cramped dormitories, cook their own meals and subsist on an 80,000-yen (about $520) monthly allowance. Many drop out. The Crush Gals, however, raked in 30 million yen apiece ($193,000) last year, thanks to advertising endorsements, record albums and magazine articles.

 

Last March, four of the wrestlers went to Madison Square Garden and found America's finest to be pushovers. "They're too old and don't have the stamina," says 21-year-old Chigusa Nagayo, the other Crush Gal. No one sang, either.

There's some other articles from the time period that mention that Crush Gals but unfortunately I don't have access to the article full text including:

Snyder, J. (1987, Sep 20). DUMP MATSUMOTO: EVIL QUEEN OF JAPANESE WRESTLING. Seattle Times.

Neilan, E. (1987, Apr 26). Japanese schoolgirls go wild over 'dump'. San Francisco Chronicle

 

(I love the fact the writer is implying the old "blood capsules" or other fake blood origin. It's ketchup I tell ya!)

[mookeighana]

I also found a St Petersburg Times 9/16/92 article that mentions the Crush Gals but there wasn't much that jumped out to me:

Shah, R. (1992, Sep 16). Japanese women have fighting spirit series: COLUMN ONE. St.Petersburg Times

by Reena Shah

They giggled with their hands covering their mouths, they bowed to each other, and they gave each other neck rubs. Then, when the the neon lights began to swirl around the gymnasium and the crowd of spectators clapped to the disco tunes pounding loudly, they all jogged into the floodlit ring and stood, hands clasped, in a neat circle.

 

Bull Nakano clenched her hands and fixed her pudgy face, a blue lightning streak running down its length, into a sneer. "I am going to do my best not to disappoint you," she said. "And I promise I will qualify for an international challenge in the future," she growled, raising her fist as schoolgirls screamed and cheered for her. Her hair, terrorized by hairspray into a straight tower, swayed menacingly.

 

"I will work hard and prove to you that my team is the strongest," said Toshiyo Yamada, as camera flashbulbs exploded and the clapping audience stomped the ground approvingly.

 

One by one, all the women stepped forward, pledging hard work and promising to achieve goals. Then they earnestly got to work, delighting their neatly-dressed fans by kicking and grabbing each other, pulling hair, biting wrists and stomping fallen rivals.

 

When a woman has to live up to a name like Bull Nakano, Bison Kimura, Aja Kong or Bat Yoshinaga, she has the license to misbehave seriously in a society that values politeness to such a degree that people frequently pepper their conversations with "Excuse me" and "Forgive my rudeness," and women especially always must be demure and submissive.

 

But being a professional wrestler here mostly means hard work, a slender paycheck and the likelihood of remaining chunky and unmarried for the rest of your life.

 

Still, the All Japan Women's Wrestling Promotion has been surprised by its own surging popularity in the last 10 years.

 

First, the Crush Gals ruled the ring. Then, it was the Beauty Pair. And women's professional wrestling became the rage.

 

"I think it was the singing that really did it," says Lioness Asuka, one of the Crush Gals duo, and a 1985 champion who drew huge crowds. The promoters decided that before every match, the Crush Gals should croon sentimental songs and then get down to pounding another pair of "evil" wrestlers. The gimmick worked, packing stadium after stadium with thousands of fans.

 

What surprised Lioness and women's wrestling promoter Kenji Matsunaga was that among the usual crowds of "salarymen" - white-collar workers - were throngs of housewives and schoolgirls.

 

"Women's wrestling is much more interesting than men's," said Oka Yumiko, an 18-year-old high school student who spent $50 on her ticket and another $20 on Bull Nakano souvenirs. "Men are supposed to have strength, but to see a woman kicking and toppling others - I like it because I never imagined women could be so strong."

 

"The best part is when they leap out of the ring and keep on beating each other up," said 17-year-old Atsuko Nagata. She is outraged at the suggestion that much of this exaggerated ferocity could be staged. "It is all real," she insisted. "They bleed so much and they still fight!" she said admiringly.

 

Fighting in singles and pairs, bouncing across the ring, rebounding from the ropes, the women let out grunts of dubious ferocity. Aaaaaaagh! Aaayiiiii! A television camera man sprints around the ring, not missing any of the action. Two men holding an extension cord scuttle behind him.

 

"Ma-na-mi," a part of the crowd chants, naming their winner. "Yo-shi-da, Yo-shi-da," roots another faction.

 

"Go for it! We support you 100 percent!"

 

A shaken Yoshida wipes her bloody mouth and steadies herself. "I am going to go back and try to win," she says to her fans and bows. The fight continues.

 

Kenji Matsunaga, the company's president, says that when the Crush Gals and the Beauty Pair reigned until a few years ago, he received 2,000 letters from schoolgirls who begged to be recruited. "This is my dream," one wrote. "If I don't get this chance, I will have no other purpose in life."

 

The handful of women he recruits each year range in age from junior high school to college. They have some aptitude for martial arts and they all look similar, like cheerleaders trapped in pillars of cellulite. Their careers are short. Retirement usually comes at 25. Lioness, who retired three years ago at 25, now works as a television actress. Her dream is to become a fine dramatic star, but she only gets to play manly women in slapstick shows.

 

"People assume that Japanese women are delicate creatures in kimonos," explained Matsunaga about the popularity of wrestling as a career option. "But deep inside the Japanese women is a strong will to get anything she wants. It is like a snake sleeping inside her.

 

"They never give up. I've trained many. They get hit or kicked and they never give up even when they're bleeding at the mouth and have bandages all over. They are asked if they are ready to give up and they just get up and continue fighting!"

 

Everywhere in Japanese society, the domination of men is apparent. At work, even college-educated women are expected to fill positions as "office ladies" who make photocopies, answer telephones and pour tea for male workers. This is a country where the borrowed tradition of Valentine's Day is practiced with a twist. Women buy gifts for men and are obligated to present their male co-workers with what are called "duty chocolates."

 

After a few years at a company, these "office flowers" are expected to retire, preferably with a husband culled from the company's pool of eligible men. Advertisements show girls or women who are dressed like adolescents in smocks and ponytails giggling and waiting on men. The popular "manga" comics that are the reading staple of subway riders show women and even schoolgirls stripped of their clothes, raped and slashed.

 

Women's wrestling is a clever amalgam of cuteness and violence. Women get a chance to stomp on each other and draw blood in a controlled environment, and their behavior isn't seen as threatening because they are picking on other women instead of men.

 

Like most women's jobs in Japan, though, wrestling doesn't pay much. The women get an allowance of about $600 to $1,000 a month. They share dormitories and cook their own meals. They have to train all day and polish their act. They are piled into buses for engagements around the country. If they get unexpectedly popular like the Crush Gals did, they can make some money on the side by selling T-shirts or cassettes.

 

But female wrestling has yet to earn the respect and glamor sumo wrestling enjoys, Matsunaga says. Every so often, a swaddling sumo wrestler marries a Lolita-like singer or actress and the Japanese media coos about such romances. No such happy endings are in store for female wrestlers. After a flash of stardom, many of the women move to jobs like office clerks or martial arts trainers. "Some of them try to lose weight and find a husband," he says.

 

Still, wrestling is an ideal job for women, Lioness says. "It doesn't matter if you are overweight. In fact, it is better if you are heavy," she says, smiling. "You can be angry in public, and people will cheer you instead of scolding you for being bad. I am so glad I got chosen."

 

The best wrestlers get to visit the United States for exhibition matches. "They are far, far ahead in showmanship," Matsunaga said of American professional wrestlers. "They know how to dress more colorfully, to paint their faces to build a certain image, to make the whole spectacle entertaining.

 

"All this jumping out of the ring and thrashing the opponent that is so popular - we learned it from the Americans."

[mookeighana]

For what it's worth, there's a book "5,110 Days in Tokyo and Everything's Hunky-Dory: The Marketer's Guide to Advertising in Japan" by (honest-to-god) Sean Mooney which makes this claim about Japanese TV Ratings (page 97)

 

AD REVENUE VERSUS PROGRAM CONTENT

 

As in any country, the commercial ground broadcasting companies in Japan rely on advertising revenue. Thus, sponsors are very sensitive to the audience ratings, a sensitivity that encourages the Japanese television broadcasters to focus on programs which deliver the highest possible ratings. As in most countries, this is often at the expense of the program content. In Japan, any program with a rating above 20% is considered a success, giving the program a good chance of being carried over to the next season. Conversely, a rating below 15% raises major doubts of a program's ongoing viability.

The book was published in 2000, so these numbers are obviously reflecting a situation at least a decade old, but it's an interesting piece of context.

[JerryvonKramer]

[mookeighana]

For what it's worth, there's a book "5,110 Days in Tokyo and Everything's Hunky-Dory: The Marketer's Guide to Advertising in Japan" by (honest-to-god) Sean Mooney which makes this claim about Japanese TV Ratings (page 97)

 

AD REVENUE VERSUS PROGRAM CONTENT

 

As in any country, the commercial ground broadcasting companies in Japan rely on advertising revenue. Thus, sponsors are very sensitive to the audience ratings, a sensitivity that encourages the Japanese television broadcasters to focus on programs which deliver the highest possible ratings. As in most countries, this is often at the expense of the program content. In Japan, any program with a rating above 20% is considered a success, giving the program a good chance of being carried over to the next season. Conversely, a rating below 15% raises major doubts of a program's ongoing viability.

The book was published in 2000, so these numbers are obviously reflecting a situation at least a decade old, but it's an interesting piece of context.

 

I found a 1982 NY Times article about Dallas failing on Japanese TV which has a similar tone:

 

'DALLAS' STRIKES NO OIL ON JAPANESE TV

Lohr, Steve. New York Times, Late Edition (East Coast) [New York, N.Y] 10 Feb 1982: C.30.

About 4.5 percent of the audience is watching ''Dallas,'' according to the Japanese arm of the A.C. Nielsen Company. The most popular shows post ratings of more than 30 percent. TV Asahi and the sponsors were counting on at least 15 percent.

 

On Jan. 7, ''Dallas'' was switched to an hour later to ease the competition with more popular Japanese shows. ''Dallas'' is broadcast Thursdays from 10 to 11 P.M.

 

''That doesn''t seem to have helped,'' according to Sunao Yokobiki of Nielsen's media-research division. In Hollywood, Lorimar, the company that makes ''Dallas,'' regards the experience here as an enigmatic fluke. ''Japan is the only place in the 67 countries where 'Dallas' is shown that it doesn''t do well,'' John Simes, publicity agent, said.

 

From Marrakech to Jakarta, ''Dallas'' has become an object of devotion. In several countries, the rating is higher than the 45 percent or so s hare that ''Dallas'' has in th e United States. 'Very Interesting Question'

 

''Since Japan is the lone exception, the problem there is not something that really bothers us,'' Mr. Simes said. ''But why it doesn''t do well in Japan is a very interesting question.''

 

Keiji Kohyama of TV Asahi contends the ''Japanese audience seems to have developed a resistance to foreign television series.'' However, ''Charlie's Angels'' has a rating of 16 percent. And in the past, American shows from ''Columbo'' to ''Wagon Train'' have done well.

A 1986 article about Miami Vice, also failing in the Japanese market had a similar tone:

 

MIAMI VICE' FAILS TO SNARE JAPANESE TV VIEWERS: [sUN-SENTINEL Edition]

 

SCHWEISBERG, DAVID R. Sun Sentinel [Fort Lauderdale] 31 Oct 1986: 12E.

Miami Vice so far has eked out around a 7 percent rating -- compared with 26 percent for its chief competitor, a quiz show.

Now the question is, did the WSJ not understand that a 12 rating isn't that spectacular, or is the context being misconstrued?

[mookeighana]

(Apologies up front for flooding this thread with posts)

 

And people assume things are true. That Wikipedia article on Chigusa Nagayo states that either she or the Crush Girls had several top 10 hits. I've scoured as much Oricon charts details as I can find and there is no evidence to date that any of their songs were in the top 10. They certainly weren't in the 100 best selling singles of any year during the Crush Girls craze. I suppose they may have spent a week or two in the top 10, but I can't find any evidence that their singles ever rose that high. If you want to look at what a pop star could do at the same time as the Crush Girls, Seiko Matsuda, the Queen of the Idols, had something like 24 consecutive number one hits between 1980 and 1988.

I did find this tidbit connected to "Nagayo Chigusa" for "What happened - my heart"

http://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/artist/237429...king/cd_single/

Sale record high of 21 February 1988 in 63　appearance number twice

I'm not sure what that means - they hit #63 one week in 1988 ?

[tim]

wow, thanks a ton for the info oj and mookei.

 

OJ, although the comparison of the crush girls to mainstream pop culture icons may be off, do you still think as far as their success/popularity in wrestling and some level of pop appeal they compare favorably relative to a guy like Hogan in the US? And were those 20+'s during the Tiger Mask craze the best ratings wrestling would ever do (or had ever done) in Japan?

[mookeighana]

wow, thanks a ton for the info oj and mookei.

 

OJ, although the comparison of the crush girls to mainstream pop culture icons may be off, do you still think as far as their success/popularity in wrestling and some level of pop appeal they compare favorably relative to a guy like Hogan in the US? And were those 20+'s during the Tiger Mask craze the best ratings wrestling would ever do (or had ever done) in Japan?

Well, if you're getting technical, the highest ratings for Wrestling in Japan ever were for Destroyer matches (5/24/63 and 2/26/65) - see #4 and #34 on the page marked #14: https://www.videor.co.jp/rating/wh/rgb201111.pdf which had 64.0% and 51.2% ratings respectively.

 

I can't read Japanese, but the Japanese Wikipedia page about TV Ratings does specifically call out the NJPW Tiger Mask/Riki Choshu era in the "Friday 8:00 War" section so I infer that early 80s was a high point for modern professional wrestling on Japanese Television (I think around a 20% rating?). By the late 80s, it seems like the rating might have dropped to 5-10% which was considered poor.

[ohtani's jacket]

I'm pushed for time, but here's a blog that explains a bit about Japanese television ratings -- http://rz-jocelyn.livejournal.com/27387.html

[ohtani's jacket]

wow, thanks a ton for the info oj and mookei.

 

OJ, although the comparison of the crush girls to mainstream pop culture icons may be off, do you still think as far as their success/popularity in wrestling and some level of pop appeal they compare favorably relative to a guy like Hogan in the US? And were those 20+'s during the Tiger Mask craze the best ratings wrestling would ever do (or had ever done) in Japan?

Firstly, I'd say that a 12.0% on Sundays outside of prime time was a pretty good television rating. From 7/9/84 to 9/22/86, AJW had a Monday night slot from 19:00-19:30 right at the beginning of prime time. The only other time AJW was shown in prime time was a similar period from 7/15/77 to 9/28/79.

 

Aside from the 1960s matches mentioned, I believe Inoki drew some pretty high 30%+ ratings in the 70s for his proto-MMA fights such as the ones against Ruska. I think it was the consistency of the Friday night ratings for World Pro Wrestling along with the fact it went toe-to-toe with the police drama Taiyō ni Hoero!, which did some monster ratings in the late 70s, that made it more impressive than some of the one-off fights mentioned.

 

It's difficult to compare them to Hogan because Japan already had its Hogan in Inoki. There's no easy US equivalent for the Crush Girls.

[DGinnetty]

This lines up nicely with some research I have been doing regarding NJ and AJ ratings during the 80s.

 

Whether it be from Nielsen or Video Research Limited, New Japan regularly trounced AJ, but they only mention the share %, not the actual rating.

 

If these shows aired at the same time on the same night (like RAW and Nitro used to), the ratings share would provide a valid comparison.

 

But New Japan aired during Golden time on Friday Nights. Golden time was the peak viewing time in the Prime time slot.

 

All Japan aired from 5:30 to 6:30 pm on Saturdays, when the total number of households watching TV would certainly be lower than Friday night at 9pm.

 

Over the last week, I have been trying to determine the total available viewing audience for those 2 time slots, so I could interpret their ratings share accurately.

 

Haven't found the data I need yet.

 

The 12% might be a big deal for a Sunday show, but 12% of the available audience on a Sunday might not even be half of the available audience on a Friday night, so

a 12% on Friday would mean MANY more viewers than a 12% on Sunday afternoon.

 

I think the times AJs ratings topped NJ (During Choshu's Army), the total number of viewers was STILL lower than New Japans.

 

Hopefully I can confirm of refute that statement with real data soon.

 

Dan Ginnetty

[Zenjo]

It's always nice to read about the good old days when wrestling was still real to 17 year olds.

[DGinnetty]

Looks like I misinterpreted what I have read before concerning ratings.

 

If the magazines printed the ratings %, that is measured against the total TV universe.

 

It is independent of share, which determines how much of the total available TV households are watching TV at any particular day or time slot.

 

Now I just need to confirm that the puro mags list the ratings and not the share.

 

I have a puro mag that listed the NJ Tv ratings for a 6 month period in 1982 or 1983, and they were all in the 20s

 

I don't think any other fed since 1972 has had ratings anywhere near that.

 

Dan Ginnetty

[ohtani's jacket]

The magazines are printing the average household rating not the audience share. And it's for the Kanto region. There are no national ratings.