Now this is an interesting angle/side effect to the wild success of the Wii. Apparently, not one show on any commercial Japanese station managed to attain more than a 9% share of audience viewing figures last week. “It’s something that hasn’t happened for nearly twenty years,” The Times reports.
“The quality of programming has always been a little cyclical in Japan, but there has never been a period of decline like the one we are seeing now. There are outside factors at work,” said an executive at commercial channel TBS. “One is people watching TV on their cell phones where we can’t track them, but the really big factor is the time people are spending on the Wii,” he added, before going on to suggest that the industry wasn’t accustomed to dealing with competition from other types of media.
There’s disruptive technology, and then there’s disruptive technology. I’d also add that many Japanese gamers are probably plugged into their DS more than they are the Super Happy Smile Challenge Family Wish Show.