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New Year's 66th Kōhaku Song Contest Is Lowest-Rated on Record

Viewer ratings from New Year Eve's Kōhaku Uta Gassen were released on Saturday. The second half of program, which ran from 9:00 pm to 11:45 pm, received a 39.2% rating in Tokyo's Kantō region and a 43.0% rating in the Kansai region (including Osaka and Kyoto).

The 39.2% rating is a 3 percent drop from last year's 42.2% rating. The last time the program received a rating percentage in the 30s was in 2007, when the program received a 39.5%. This is the lowest rating since then and the lowest rating since the program was split into two parts in 1989. Even if there was no two-part system, this year's program still received the lowest rating since 1962, the first year in which ratings were measured and announced.

The first part of the special, which aired from 7:15 pm, received a 34.8% and 36.8% in Kantō and Kansai, respectively. This is a 0.3 precent drop from last year in Kantō.

This year's Kōhaku Uta Gassen included the special "Anime Kōhaku." In "Anime Kōhaku," the singers performed anime theme songs. Like the rest of the Kōhaku Uta Gassen, "Anime Kōhaku" will had a red team (female performers) and white team (male performers). Maruko, the title character in the popular long-running anime Chibi Maruko-chan, represented the red team and Whisper from Yōkai Watch represented the white team.

Source: Nikkan Sports via Otakomu]