Interest

Report: Fuji TV Struggling to Find Sponsors for Spring Season

A report by the weekly general-interest magazine Shūkan Gendai on February 2 noted that the Japanese broadcaster Fuji TV is struggling to find sponsors for the upcoming spring programming season. According to the report, an anonymous Fuji TV staff member said, “Even in February, there is still no prospect of sponsors returning, and the program schedule from April onwards is almost entirely blank.” The staff member continued, “Without sponsors, it's unclear how much budget can be spent, and there is no prospect of new programs. The situation on the ground has completely stopped.”

Fuji TV's lack of sponsorship came after the Weekly Bunshun magazine reported that former SMAP member Masahiro Nakai engaged in nonconsensual sexual activities with a woman in June 2023, resulting in a 90 million yen (about US$580,000) out-of-court settlement. Weekly Bunshun also reported that Fuji TV staff was involved with the incident, although the magazine later said that the woman was not initially invited to the gathering by a Fuji TV official as it had reported in December. In the aftermath, Fuji TV president Koichi Minato and Fuji Media Holdings Inc. chairman Shuji Kano resigned their positions.

Fuji Media Holdings Inc. had hoped the resignations of Minato and Kano would halt the loss of sponsors, but Shūkan Gendai said that the resignations had the opposite effect. Following a second press conference about the Nakai scandal, Fuji TV has lost over 80 corporate sponsors. Shūkan Gendai further noted that corporate commercials have been replaced with non-profit public service announcements from AC Japan.

“Even if an advertisement is replaced with an AC Japan public service announcement, the sponsor does not receive a refund for the advertisement.” Shūkan Gendai continued, “However, Fuji Television has decided not to charge for the replacement fee up until January. It is also accepting cancellations for February and March.” The loss of corporate sponsorship over the three months is expected to take 23.3 billion yen (just over US$150,000,000) from Fuji TV's coffers.

The lack of sponsors has affected anime programming on Fuji TV as well. Over the past two weeks, Sunday evening staples, Chibi Maruko-chan and Sazae-san have aired without sponsors. ANN's Japan-based staff is currently checking if other animation programs have also lost sponsors.

Sources: Shūkan Gendai's website via Yahoo! Japan News, Tokyo Odaiba.net