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DIGITAL MEDIA ACROSS ASIA

Japan: Traditional Media

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Traditional Advertising
Newspapers
Magazines
Television & Broadcasting
Public Relations vs. Advertising

Traditional Advertising

Traditional Advertising

Traditional media typically refers to traditional (old) means of communication that have existed since before the invention of the internet. Traditional media include television, radio, newspapers, books and print publications, and are mostly used in the context of advertising and corporate communications. Traditional advertising media in Japan consists of television and radio networks, as well as newspapers and magazines.	A popular print ad in Japan
	According to Dentsu, Japan’s largest agency, the total advertising expenditure for 2008 reached ¥6,692.6 Billion, dropped by 4.7% in 2008, with traditional media down by 7.6% of which 12.5% decrease in newspaper, 11.1% down in magazine 7.3% in radio and 4.4% down on television. From the figure, we can see that advertising in traditional media has been decreasing over the years with 49.2% of the total advertising expenditure in 2008. Advertising on the internet rose by 16.3%. Growth was especially high for search engine advertising and the establishment of cross-media approaches. Mobile advertising also rose sharply over the year with increasing usage of mobiles. Source: Advertising Expenditure in Japan
Newspapers

According to the Statistical Handbook of Japan, as of October 2007, a total of 121 daily newspapers are in circulation in Japan, with a penetration rate of 1.0 newspaper per household. 94% of Japanese newspaper circulation is distributed through home delivery that makes them delivered steadily before subscribers go to work.The most popular Japanese newspaper is Yomiuri Shimbun with a circulation of 10,016,894 (2008), followed by the Asahi Shinbun with 8,033,400 (2008), the Mainichi Shinbun with close to 5 million copies and the Nikkei Shinbun with 3,056,038 (2008).

In a study published by The International Federation of Audit Bureaux of Circulations, Japan publishes the five most popular daily newspapers in the world, based on circulation figures. The Japanese buy more newspapers than any other nationality; from a thousand Japanese adults, on average 631 buy a daily newspaper (2006).

Newspaper Circulation per 1,000 adults in Japan
2004	644.2
2005	634.5
2006	631.7
2007	630.6
2008	624.1

Despite high absolute newspaper circulation rates in Japan, there has been a trend of decreasing newspaper circulation and advertising revenues, relative to previous years.

According to Business Report 2007 on Recent Trends in the Japanese Newspaper Business, decreasing circulation has been caused mainly by an increase of non-subscribers, particularly among younger generations, sending circulation revenue on a downward trend.

Advertising revenue has also made a sizable drop in recent years due to the deflationary business climate, as well as decreasing advertising expenditures, caused by business advertisers selecting other media. When broken down by medium, ad expenditures in newspapers have remained below 20 percent of all expenditures since 2001. There is great concern about these trends continuing, and several newspapers predict that their ad income will soon experience a double-digit drop.

Against this backdrop, many newspaper companies are increasing managerial efforts and putting out free papers targeting young people, women or the elderly, for instance, to solicit small low-price ads like classifieds. In addition, with the Internet bearing negative effects on newspaper subscriptions and advertising, newspaper companies have set up websites to solicit print readers or to reach advertisers by expanding online access to their sites. Membership-based online societies are also being developed to reach out to new subscribers or to retain current readers. In the future, a possible consumption tax hike, higher than the current 5% might also pose managerial issues in the newspaper business.

Japanese newspapers have no intention of giving away on the Web what their readers remain willing to pay for in print. In addition Japan has a 99 percent national literacy rate and 85 percent of the population trusts what is reported in newspapers (versus a mere 20 percent of U.S. readers who believe what they read in newspapers). However, as in the United States, advertising in Japan has been declining. Japan has seen a nine percent decrease in advertising over the past four years.

Source: Recent trends in the Japanese newspaper business

Magazines

Magazines

According to the Statistics bureau of Japan, the total number of magazines published in Japan during 2006 was 4.12 billion, of which 2.48 billion were monthlies and 1.63 billion were weeklies. It is estimated that 32.2 magazines (19.4 monthlies and 12.8 weeklies) were printed per Japanese citizen in 2006. Thousands of fresh titles of books and magazines are published each month in Japan. In 2006, 4,540 magazines (including 2,671 monthlies and 132 weeklies) were newly released. Despite thousands of books and magazine published in Japan, the sales have dropped by 3.1% to 2.08 trillion yen (US$ 19 billion) in 2007. Even though the number of books sold were relatively constant to previous years, more sales were generated from inexpensive works such as "cell phone novels" causing the decrease in average price of all books by 3.8% from 2006 to 1,131 yen and the total value of books sold slid 3.2 per cent to 902.6 billion yen, the first drop in two years. Magazine sales sank for the 10th consecutive year, falling 3.1% to 1.18 trillion yen. This is due to increasing consumers purchasing only special editions of weeklies and monthlies with sales of regular editions plummeting. As the market shrank, 218 magazines suspended publication, 51 more than in 2006 and the largest annual exodus since the survey began in 1958. Source: Recent trends in the Japanese newspaper business Source: NSK News

According to the Statistics bureau of Japan, the total number of magazines published in Japan during 2006 was 4.12 billion, of which 2.48 billion were monthlies and 1.63 billion were weeklies. It is estimated that 32.2 magazines (19.4 monthlies and 12.8 weeklies) were printed per Japanese citizen in 2006.

Thousands of fresh titles of books and magazines are published each month in Japan. In 2006, 4,540 magazines (including 2,671 monthlies and 132 weeklies) were newly released.

Despite thousands of books and magazine published in Japan, the sales have dropped by 3.1% to 2.08 trillion yen (US$ 19 billion) in 2007. Even though the number of books sold were relatively constant to previous years, more sales were generated from inexpensive works such as "cell phone novels" causing the decrease in average price of all books by 3.8% from 2006 to 1,131 yen and the total value of books sold slid 3.2 per cent to 902.6 billion yen, the first drop in two years.

Magazine sales sank for the 10th consecutive year, falling 3.1% to 1.18 trillion yen. This is due to increasing consumers purchasing only special editions of weeklies and monthlies with sales of regular editions plummeting. As the market shrank, 218 magazines suspended publication, 51 more than in 2006 and the largest annual exodus since the survey began in 1958.

Source: Recent trends in the Japanese newspaper business
Source: NSK News

Television and Broadcasting

Television and Broadcasting

With the advent of the Internet, advertising revenue generated from TV advertising worldwide has been experiencing decreasing growth. A study by Informa on “Global Net TV Advertising Forecasts”, predicts that Japan, the world’s second-largest TV advertising market, but home to a sluggish economy, will remain more or less stagnant, with net TV advertising growing only 12% from 2007 to 2012. Subscribers to cable TV services (self-originating broadcasting using licensed facilities) have steadily increased to 20.61 million households, or 40.3 percent of all households in 2007. However, TV advertising spend fell by 9% from 2006 to 2007. This indicates a shift of advertising revenue, away from television, and possibly towards the internet, despite the high number of cablet TV subscribers in Japan (around 20,000 in 2007). Over the last decade, television has clearly come to surpass newspapers as Japan's main information and entertainment medium. Source: Global net TV advertising

With the advent of the Internet, advertising revenue generated from TV advertising worldwide has been experiencing decreasing growth. A study by Informa on “Global Net TV Advertising Forecasts”, predicts that Japan, the world’s second-largest TV advertising market, but home to a sluggish economy, will remain more or less stagnant, with net TV advertising growing only 12% from 2007 to 2012.

Subscribers to cable TV services (self-originating broadcasting using licensed facilities) have steadily increased to 20.61 million households, or 40.3 percent of all households in 2007. However, TV advertising spend fell by 9% from 2006 to 2007. This indicates a shift of advertising revenue, away from television, and possibly towards the internet, despite the high number of cablet TV subscribers in Japan (around 20,000 in 2007). Over the last decade, television has clearly come to surpass newspapers as Japan's main information and entertainment medium.

Source: Global net TV advertising

Japan: Traditional Media - Social Media and PR across Asia

Public Relations (kouhou) vs. Advertising (koukoku)

Public Relations (kouhou) vs. Advertising (koukoku)

	Consumers and stakeholders in Japan are found to be more receptive to corporate communications through Public Relations, as opposed to Advertising. However, Japan's PR industry remains underdeveloped compared to the United States. According to a survey conducted by Edelman Japan in 2007, a clear majority (62%) expressed the view that companies that primarily "communicate with their stakeholders through earned media coverage using a public relations agency" are using a more effective approach than those that "communicate with their stakeholders primarily through paid media coverage using an advertising agency. "These results clearly show that PR is a vital ingredient of the corporate communications mix in Japan," says Edelman North Asia President Bob Pickard. "Companies must take this into consideration when building and budgeting communications programs. Companies now should earn [credibility or trust] through a two way dialogue with stakeholders, which is what Social Media is all about. The new technology for social media is amplifying the power of PR to facilitate introductions and build relationships with the new influencers who have emerged with the democratization of the media and the concomitant succession of passive consumers with active pro-consumers.” Source: Importance of PR in Japan
Also Read:

Consumers and stakeholders in Japan are found to be more receptive to corporate communications through Public Relations, as opposed to Advertising. However, Japan's PR industry remains underdeveloped compared to the United States.

According to a survey conducted by Edelman Japan in 2007, a clear majority (62%) expressed the view that companies that primarily "communicate with their stakeholders through earned media coverage using a public relations agency" are using a more effective approach than those that "communicate with their stakeholders primarily through paid media coverage using an advertising agency.

"These results clearly show that PR is a vital ingredient of the corporate communications mix in Japan," says Edelman North Asia President Bob Pickard. "Companies must take this into consideration when building and budgeting communications programs. Companies now should earn [credibility or trust] through a two way dialogue with stakeholders, which is what Social Media is all about. The new technology for social media is amplifying the power of PR to facilitate introductions and build relationships with the new influencers who have emerged with the democratization of the media and the concomitant succession of passive consumers with active pro-consumers.”

Source: Importance of PR in Japan

Also Read:

Social Media	Technology Penetration	Technology Implication

Read more about Social media in Japan:

About Japan
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joshua.sum	Latest page update: made by joshua.sum , Nov 11 2009, 11:54 PM EST (about this update About This Update Edited by joshua.sum view changes - complete history)
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