The audience ratings for NHK's annual New Year's Eve music show, "Kohaku Utagassen" ("Red vs. White Song Contest"), improved last year, Video Research Ltd. said Monday, giving some encouragement to the scandal-hit public broadcaster.
The show, which lasts more than four hours, is divided into two parts. In the Kanto region centering on Tokyo, the ratings came to 35.4 percent for the first part and 42.9 percent for the second part, up from 30.8 percent and a record-low 39.3 percent, respectively, in 2004.
The ratings improved for both segments of the show for the first time in seven years.
The singing contest, first aired in 1951, was once immensely popular, with ratings around 70 percent to 80 percent until the mid-1980s.
But ratings have since declined, with critics attributing the fall to diversification of individual values in Japan and more attractive programs produced by commercial broadcasters.
To help improve ratings, NHK used Monta Mino, a popular host of several commercial TV shows, as the main host Saturday and introduced viewer voting to choose songs for the yearend show.
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