How Young Children Are Watching TV: From the June Rating Survey on Young Children s TV Viewing By Chie Sekine Introduction This paper reports on the results from the Rating Survey on Young Children s TV Viewing conducted at the same time as the National Individual Audience Rating Survey of June, which covers all viewers nationally aged seven years and older. 1 The survey was conducted over the week of June 11 (Monday) to June 17 (Sunday) and covers children aged two to six years old (those not yet attending school) living within a 30-kilometer radius of Tokyo. The survey subjects were 1,000 children selected in stratified two-stage random sampling (10 children in each of 100 areas) from the Basic Resident Register, and the survey administered by mail (15-minute diaries filled out by the subjects caretakers). The number of valid respondents was 594 persons, or 59.4%. The composition of the response sample is given in Table 1. As 97% of respondents were the subjects mothers (responses were requested from the caretaker who looks after the child the most), this paper uses the term mothers to refer to the caretakers. Table 1. Composition of the Sample Total Male Female 2 yrs 3 yrs 4 yrs 5-6 yrs Nursery school Kindergarten Not in school Unknown 594persons 289 305 120 148 141 185 179 296 116 3 100% 48.7 51.3 20.2 24.9 23.7 31.1 30.1 49.8 19.5 0.5 1. Television Viewing (1) Daily television viewing time is less than 2 hours, and decreases The survey shows that the average TV viewing time per day among children aged two to six years is 1 hr 53 min, down from the previous year s 2 hrs 7 min (Figure 1). Figure 1. Annual trends in TV viewing time (per day, weekly average) hr:mm 3:00 2:00 1:00 0:00 2:25 1:30 2:43 2:42 1:46 2:36 2:34 2:34 2:29 1:38 1:34 1:33 1:37 1:33 0:54 1:00 1:04 1:02 1:03 0:57 0:56 2:15 1:24 2:19 1:31 0:50 0:48 2:00 TV Total 2:07 2:07 2:05 2:07 1:53 Commercial TV Total 1:19 1:20 1:18 1:15 1:14 1:02 0:47 0:49 0:51 0:54 0:41 0:51 NHK TV Total** *Children s survey not conducted in 2004. **BS Hi-Vision added to NHK TV total as of 2008~2010. Total viewing times for NHK TV Total were 51 min (previous year 54 min) and for commercial TV 1 hr 2 min (previous year 1 hr 14 min). Compared with the previous year, commercial TV viewing time has decreased. As for NHK, NHK General TV (GTV) at 7 min, Educational TV (ETV) at 43 min, and broadcast satellite (BS) television at 1 min.
Looking at total TV viewing time for individual brackets by age and gender, the differences between the age brackets and gender brackets are statistically insignificant (Table 2). But total TV viewing time reduction is slightly large among children aged 3-4 years. In NHK/commercial breakdown, total NHK TV viewing times decline with age: children aged 2 years at 1 hr, 3 years at 54 min, 4 years at 49 min, and 5-6 years at 44 min. On the other hand, total commercial TV viewing times among children aged 5-6 years are longer than other ages, at 1 hr 14 min. The tendency of the viewing times by age is the same as that of past survey. Table 2. NHK and commercial TV average viewing time by gender and age (per day, weekly averages) NHK TV Total Commercial TV Total TV Total (hr: min) Total Male Female 2 yrs 3 yrs 4 yrs 5-6 yrs 2010 0:51 0:50 0:51 0:59 0:59 0:47 0:42 2011 0:54 0:51 0:55 0:58 0:58 0:59 0:39 0:51 0:49 0:54 1:00 0:54 0:49 0:44 2010 1:15 1:19 1:11 1:07 1:02 1:13 1:31 2011 1:14 1:13 1:15 1:10 1:14 1:10 1:20 1:02 0:59 1:04 0:58 0:54 0:57 1:14 2010 2:05 2:09 2:02 2:07 2:01 1:59 2:13 2011 2:07 2:04 2:09 2:08 2:12 2:10 1:59 1:53 1:48 1:56 1:57 1:47 1:46 1:59 Looking at total TV viewing times by day of the week, average weekdays and Sunday viewing times are 1 hr 54 min, and Saturday is slightly shorter at 1 hr 46 min (Table 3). Compared with the previous year, total TV viewing time on Sunday becomes slightly shorter this year. By age group, total TV viewing time of children aged 2 years is over 2 hours on weekdays, and the viewing time of children aged 5-6 years is over 2 hours on Saturday and Sunday. Table 3. Average day-of-week TV total viewing time by gender and age (hr:min) Total 2011 2010 Male Female 2 yrs 3 yrs 4 yrs 5-6 yrs Weekdays 1:54 (2:07) (2:07) 1:48 1:59 2:03 1:49 1:51 1:53 Saturday 1:46 (1:55) (2:00) 1:46 1:46 1:45 1:39 1:32 2:03 Sunday 1:54 (2:23) (2:05) 1:53 1:54 1:44 1:46 1:38 2:19 Figure 2 charts NHK and commercial TV viewing times by day of the week. Although NHK and commercial TV both indicate a comparable figure of about 1 hour on weekdays, NHK decreases and commercial TV increases on Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday, commercial TV viewing time is 1 hr 38 min, whereas NHK viewing time is only 16 min, which is a substantial difference. Figure 2. Average day-of-week NHK and commercial TV average viewing time NHK TV Total Commercial TV Total TV Total (hr:min) Weekdays 1:00 0:54 1:54 Saturday 0:40 1:06 1:46 Sunday 0:16 1:38 1:54 2
(2) The most watched channel is ETV Looking next at the weekly reach, which is the proportion of children watching at least some (more than 15 min) of a TV channel during the week of the survey, ETV was the most watched channel(72.6%), followed by Fuji, NTV, and Asahi (Table 4). Looking at the weekly reach by age group, ETV was the highest among children aged 2 years, and also, its reach were high among 3 years old and 4 years old, compared to other broadcasters. As for 5-6 years old, weekly reaches of NTV, Fuji, Asahi, and Tokyo increased to the level of 60%, and became comparable to ETV. Table 4. Weekly reach by channel and age bracket (full-week) Total 2 yrs 3 yrs 4 yrs 5-6 yrs NHK Total 82.0 87 80 82 80 GTV 29.5 26 31 21 37 ETV 72.6 80 68 77 68 NTV 57.6 57 49 53 69 Asahi 57.2 50 49 58 68 TBS 27.8 32 30 24 27 Tokyo 46.5 34 34 47 64 Fuji 63.5 61 62 60 69 Compared with the previous year, although weekly reach of GTV increased, those of ETV, Asahi, TBS, Tokyo, and Fuji decreased (Table 5). And looking back at the weekly reach levels for all broadcasters from the year 2000, the figures are on a downward trend. Table 5. Weekly reach by channel (full-week) 2000 2001 2002 2003 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 GTV 35 32 38 30 28 29 24 30 24 25 24 30 ETV 90 85 89 88 84 78 80 80 81 77 81 73 NTV 71 64 69 71 62 65 57 54 54 55 54 58 Asahi 80 82 80 79 78 75 69 66 71 62 69 57 TBS 59 60 66 54 54 58 44 47 39 37 34 28 Tokyo 86 83 82 78 75 68 61 63 66 59 55 47 Fuji 72 81 79 79 75 74 74 77 76 67 69 64 The data on average viewership for individual NHK and commercial TV channels shows that ETV is the most watched channel, at the average on full day (3.8%), especially in the morning (6.2%) and in the afternoon (3.4%) (Table 6). On the other hand, Fuji is the highest in the evening, followed by NTV and Asahi in the level of 2%. Table 6. Average audience ratings by channel (weekly average) GTV ETV NTV Asahi TBS Tokyo Fuji 2010 2011 2010 2011 2010 2011 2010 2011 2010 2011 2010 2011 2010 2011 Morning 0.4 0.3 0.9 5.9 6.9 6.2 0.8 0.8 1.2 0.7 1.1 0.6 0.4 0.4 0.4 1.7 1.2 0.8 1.3 1.0 1.0 Afternoon 0.2 0.2 0.2 4.1 4.2 3.4 0.5 0.7 0.6 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.7 0.6 0.4 Evening 0.6 0.5 0.7 1.6 1.5 1.4 2.2 2.6 2.2 1.8 1.9 2.0 1.0 1.0 0.5 2.4 1.6 1.5 3.3 3.7 2.9 Full day 0.4 0.3 0.6 4.0 4.3 3.8 1.1 1.3 1.3 0.9 1.1 0.9 0.5 0.6 0.3 1.4 1.0 0.8 1.7 1.7 1.4 NOTE: Morning: 5:00 a.m. to noon, afternoon: noon to 6:00 p.m., evening: 6:00 p.m. to midnight; full day: 5:00 a.m. to midnight. 3
(3) Decreased viewing rates from the evening to night on weekdays Figure 3 charts children s television viewing rates over the course of weekdays in 30- minute intervals. The times that children tend to watch television are unchanged from previous years, being from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 to 9:00 p.m. These morning and evening time slots feature broadcasts of cartoons and other programs primarily intended for children. Compared with the previous year, viewing rates in the evening to night became low, and the rates in the latter half of 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. decreased. Figure 3. Total TV average viewing rates per 30-minute intervals (weekdays average) 2011 0.1 0.1 5 a.m. 0.3 0.2 1.3 2.0 6 8.6 10.9 29.5 29.3 7 40.7 40.5 42.3 42.7 8 26.4 24.3 7.3 6.3 9 2.5 2.3 1.3 1.1 10 0.8 1.0 0.8 0.6 11 0.9 0.8 2.4 2.4 0 p.m. 3.0 2.7 2.1 1.7 1 1.4 1.0 1.1 0.4 2 1.6 0.7 1.9 0.9 3 2.3 2.4 11.8 10.8 4 17.6 15.1 22.3 19.1 5 25.9 21.2 26.1 22.3 6 26.7 21.9 36.2 32.1 7 30.8 27.2 15.6 13.3 8 13.7 10.9 7.0 4.6 9 4.5 3.5 2.0 1.4 10 1.2 1.0 0.3 0.1 11 0.2 0.1 hr 2011 0 10 20 30 40 50 (4) Frequent viewing of Sazae-san Among both NHK and commercial TV, popular programs among children are led by Sazae-san (33.6%) on Fuji, followed by With Mother (32.7%) on ETV and Chibi Maruko-chan (28.8%) on Fuji, etc.(table 7). Top 3 programs did not differ from the previous year. 4
Table 7. Popular programs on NHK and commercial TV (minimum 10-minute broadcast time) Day Time slot Channel Title Rating Sun. 6:30 p.m. Fuji Sazae-san 33.6 Tue. 8:01 a.m. ETV # With Mother 32.7 Sun. 6:00 p.m. Fuji Chibi Maruko-chan 28.8 Tue. 7:45 a.m. ETV # Peek-a-boo 28.5 Fri. 7:00 p.m. Asahi Doraemon 28.1 Sat. 8:35 a.m. ETV Curious George 27.8 Sat. 8:25 a.m. ETV Quintet 26.8 Thu. 8:25 a.m. ETV # Peek-a-boo 25.1 Sat. 8:00 a.m. ETV With Mother Saturday 25.0 Fri. 7:30 p.m. Asahi Shin-chan 24.5 NOTE: # in this table and the following indicates a broadcast with the highest rating in a series during the given week. (5) Most-watched ETV at age two and three Next, looking at program rankings by age, ETV programs broadcasted at morning and evening were most watched by children aged 2-3 years (Table 8). As age rises, commercial broadcasters programs were more watched, and among children aged 5-6 years, 5 programs out of top 10 programs were commercial broadcasters programs. Programs with high viewership among all age brackets were With Mother, Kid s Discovery, Curious George, Quintet on ETV, and in commercial broadcasters programs Sazae-san on Fuji. Table 8. Popular programs on NHK and commercial TV by age (minimum 10-minute broadcast time) 2 yrs 3 yrs Day Time slot Channel Title Rating Day Time slot Channel Title Rating Thu. 8:01 a.m. ETV # With Mother 37 Tue. 8:01 a.m. ETV # With Mother 33 Tue. 8:25 a.m. ETV # Peek-a-boo 33 Tue. 7:45 a.m. ETV # Kid s Discovery 28 Sat. 8:25 a.m. ETV Quintet 31 Sun. 6:30 p.m. Fuji Sazae-san 28 Sat. 8:35 a.m. ETV Curious George 31 Sun. 6:00 p.m. Fuji Chibi Maruko-chan 28 Mon./Fri. 7:45 a.m. ETV # Kid s Discovery 30 Sat. 8:00 a.m. ETV With Mother Saturday 27 Sat. 8:00 a.m. ETV With Mother Saturday 29 Sat. 8:25 a.m. ETV Quintet 25 Tue. 5:30 p.m. ETV # Hanakappa 28 Tue. 7:30 a.m. ETV # Fun with Japanese 24 Tue. 5:40 p.m. ETV # Cooking Idol I! My! Mine! 28 Sat. 8:35 a.m. ETV Curious George 24 Tue. 5:50 p.m. ETV # Hook Book Row 28 Tue. 5:50 p.m. ETV # Hook Book Row 24 Fri. 7:00 p.m. Asahi Doraemon 28 Wed. 5:30 p.m. ETV # Hanakappa 24 Sun. 6:30 p.m. Fuji Sazae-san 28 4 yrs 5-6 yrs Day Time slot Channel Title Rating Day Time slot Channel Title Rating Wed. 8:01 a.m. ETV # With Mother 33 Sun. 6:30 p.m. Fuji Sazae-san 44 Sat. 8:35 a.m. ETV Curious George 31 Sun. 6:00 p.m. Fuji Chibi Maruko-chan 37 Sun. 6:30 p.m. Fuji Sazae-san 30 Fri. 7:00 p.m. Asahi Doraemon 34 Sat. 8:25 a.m. ETV Quintet 29 Tue. 8:01 a.m. ETV # With Mother 31 Tue. 7:45 a.m. ETV # Kid s Discovery 28 Fri. 7:30 p.m. Asahi Shin-chan 30 Fri. 7:00 p.m. Asahi Doraemon 28 Tue. 7:45 a.m. ETV # Kid s Discovery 29 Wed. 8:25 a.m. ETV # Peek-a-boo 27 Fri. 7:30 a.m. ETV # Fun with Japanese 27 Sat. 8:00 a.m. ETV With Mother Saturday 26 Sat. 8:35 a.m. ETV Curious George 26 Sun. 6:00 p.m. Fuji Chibi Maruko-chan 26 Sun. 7:30 a.m. Asahi Tokumei Sentai Go-Buster 26 Fri. 7:30 p.m. Asahi Shin-chan 25 Sat. 8:25 a.m. ETV Quintet 24 Tue. 7:30 a.m. ETV # Fun with Japanese 23 5
2. Video Recordings (1) Video recording playback time slightly higher than previous year The survey covered the viewing of video recordings in addition to television viewing. Both viewer-recorded programming and commercial video/dvd recordings were included. The proportion of children who watched at least some amount of video during the week of the survey was 81.6%, roughly the same as the previous year (81.2%). Average daily video recording playback time per day (including children without equipment) was 46 minutes, a little more than the previous year (40 minutes). Broken down by age bracket (Table 9), playback time declined with age, with children aged 2 years at 58 min, aged 3 years at 48 min, aged 4 years at 44 min, and aged 5-6 years at 36 min. By day of week, video recording playback time was highest on Saturday at 1 hr 4 min, followed by Sunday at 51 min, and weekdays at 41 min. Figure 4 shows video recording playback time and TV viewing time by day of the week. TV viewing time on Saturday was short, but video recording playback time was long, also with a long total time. Looking at annual trends in video recording playback and TV viewing time (Figure 5), video recording playback time had remained constant at 40 min or less since 2002, but this year it was slightly higher at 46 min. In comparison, TV viewing time decreased from the previous year. Part of the decline in TV viewing time corresponds to an increase in video recording playback time. Table 9. Video recording playback time per day (weekly average) (minutes) Total Male Female 2 yrs 3 yrs 4 yrs 5-6 yrs Nursery school Kindergarten Not in school 2010 40 44 34 50 43 34 35 35 * 58 2011 40 41 40 49 41 34 39 34 41 54 46 49 42 58 48 44 36 40 46 60 *Asked if attended nursery or kindergarten in 2010 Figure 4. Video recording playback time and TV viewing time by day of week Video recording playback time Television viewing time Total (hr:min) Weekdays 0:41 1:54 2:35 Saturday 1:04 1:46 2:50 Sunday 0:51 1:54 2:45 Figure 5. Annual trends in Video recording playback time and TV viewing time (per day, weekly average) hr:mm 3:00 2:00 2:34 2:29 2:15 2:19 2:00 TV Total viewing time 2:07 2:07 2:05 2:07 1:53 1:00 0:40 Video recording playback time 0:46 0:36 0:35 0:33 0:36 0:35 0:39 0:40 0:40 0:00 6
(2) Increased viewing of video recordings in most time slots Looking at average utilization of video recordings per 30-minute intervals (Figure 6), the times of day with high utilization were the 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. time slots on weekdays, 8:00 to 10:00 a.m. on both Saturday and Sunday (because of no school), as well as the long period of time from 2:00 to 8:00 p.m. on Saturday. The time slots in which video recording utilization increased over the previous year were 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. and 8:00 to 8:30 p.m. on Saturdays, and 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Sundays. Comparing changes in TV viewing rates, there was a decrease in the Saturday 8:00 to 8:30 p.m. time slot for commercial broadcasts, with an increase in video recording utilization. At 6:00 p.m. on Sundays, even though Fuji TV s programs with high viewer ratings Chibi Maruko-chan and Sazae-san were showing, viewer ratings declined, and video recording use increased. Also on Sundays at the 8:00 a.m. time slot, partly due to breaks in Kamen Rider and Precure, two programs popular with young children, TV viewing rates declined, while video recording use increased slightly. As it has previously been reported, young children tend to watch only cartoons or programs aimed at young children or children, so when their favorite programs are not on, they often watch video. The results of this survey additionally showed that in the 6:00 p.m. Sunday time slot, in which popular programs are broadcast, there was a shift from TV viewing to video recording utilization. Figure 6. Average utilization of video recordings per 30-minute intervals Weekdays Saturday Sunday 2011 2011 2011 0.1 0.1 5 a.m. 0.2 0.0 5 a.m. 0.0 0.0 5 a.m. 0.2 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.0 0.5 0.5 6 0.4 0.8 6 0.7 0.3 6 1.3 1.6 1.2 2.1 1.5 1.3 2.4 2.0 7 4.2 3.7 7 3.2 2.5 7 2.8 3.7 6.1 5.1 4.5 4.3 3.4 4.4 8 7.3 7.9 8 7.4 10.4 8 2.6 3.5 7.3 9.0 8.3 10.9 2.3 2.7 9 11.4 8.5 9 11.7 10.5 9 2.8 2.8 11.2 9.9 9.4 8.9 2.5 2.8 10 9.7 9.0 10 7.8 6.4 10 2.1 2.4 8.7 6.5 5.2 5.5 1.5 2.3 11 6.6 4.3 11 3.8 5.0 11 1.0 2.4 5.1 3.5 4.2 4.5 1.1 1.9 0 p.m. 2011 4.2 4.0 0 p.m. 2011 3.3 3.3 0 p.m. 1.3 1.9 4.8 3.8 3.5 3.6 1.5 2.7 1 4.7 4.8 1 3.9 3.3 1 1.4 2.9 3.4 6.3 3.2 2.9 1.5 2.6 2 4.4 7.7 2 3.3 3.6 2 1.6 2.5 3.9 6.9 2.7 3.3 3.0 4.7 3 5.2 7.5 3 5.2 5.3 3 3.4 4.5 5.2 6.8 5.3 6.1 4.5 4.7 4 8.4 8.4 4 6.9 5.8 4 4.2 4.7 8.7 8.3 6.9 5.5 5.5 6.6 5 9.0 8.0 5 5.7 6.2 5 6.7 7.5 8.9 8.8 4.9 5.3 8.6 8.6 6 8.4 8.1 6 3.5 7.1 6 8.5 9.0 8.4 8.1 3.5 7.0 7.7 10.5 7 8.3 8.9 7 4.8 7.4 7 7.7 8.7 7.6 8.5 4.6 5.9 8.4 8.3 8 6.5 10.0 8 5.1 6.3 8 6.8 6.3 5.8 7.5 4.2 5.6 3.7 3.1 9 3.9 4.7 9 3.2 2.9 9 2.6 1.9 3.0 3.0 2.1 2.1 0.9 0.8 10 1.5 0.8 10 1.3 1.1 10 0.4 0.6 0.7 0.3 0.6 0.6 0.2 0.3 11 0.5 0.4 11 0.3 0.2 11 0.1 0.2 hr 0.3 0.2 hr 0.0 0.2 hr 0 5 10 15 0 5 10 15 0 5 10 15 % % % 7 2011
(3) The spread of HDD Utilization The survey looked at how much viewer-recorded TV programs and commercially available video/dvd was watched on regular days excluding weekends. It was found that 72% watched self-recorded programs, greater than the 52% who watched commercial video/dvd recordings. In terms of the amount of playback time, most who watched selfrecorded programs responded "30 minutes or more" (Figure 7). Part of the reason why there is so much watching of viewer-recorded TV programs is the spread of hard disk drives (HDDs) in digital recording equipment. Those who used HDDs more than any other type of recording equipment reached 55% this year, more than half of all respondents (Figure 8). While the use of DVD players and VHS decks is declining, the use of HDDs, which allows for easy recording and playback, is advancing. As storage capacities rise for saving programming and automatic recording devices improve their functions, it is a very big possibility that the viewing of recorded children's programming will increase. Figure 7. Playback time of recorded TV programs and commercial video/dvd Less than 30 min 30 min to 1 hr 1 to 2 hrs 2 hrs or more Hardly ever watch Recorded TV programs 18 % 28 17 9 26 2 Commercial video or DVD 20 17 12 4 47 2 N/A Figure 8. Equipment most often used to watch video Hard disk drive on digital recorder (HDD) DVD VHS deck PC hard disk drive Blu-ray disc (HDD) 2011 48.6 % 28.7 7.2 3.8 6.3 3.1 2.0 54.5 21.7 11.8 1.2 14.53.9 Mobile phone Other** Have no recording/playback equipment *Includes"have at home but not used for child" 1 See Kumiko Nishi, Ayako Shigyo, Yuriko Anraku and Masashi Funakoshi, The Present State of TV Viewing and Radio Listening From the National Individual Audience Rating Survey of June, The NHK Monthly Report on Broadcast Research, September. 8